US supporting RI`s anti-corruption efforts

Antara News, Monday, November 29, 2010 21:15 WIB

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - The US government is supporting Indonesia in its efforts to fight corruption in the country by helping improve the capacity of its Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) personnel.

"Like what President Obama said when he visited Indonesia that the US wished to help Indonesia fight corruption. So cooperation with KPK would be very important with regard to building the capacity of human resources," US ambassador to Indonesia Scot Marciel, said after meeting with KPK leaders here on Monday.

He said under the cooperation scheme the US would help train and empower the KPK human resources in carrying out investigation and using technology.

"We did not talk about settlement of cases. We are trying to give what KPK would need (to strengthen the capaciity of its human resources)," he said.

He said with regard to efforts to unveil corruption cases many countries had already successfully done them with support from professional human resources while technology in that respect only played a supporting role.

KPK commissioner M Jasin meanwhile said the training to be given to KPK personnel would be wide ranging relating to money laundering, intelligence and latest tapping technology.

"Corruptors are dynamic so we will also conduct consultations in the use of technology if there is the latest one for the purpose," he said.

So far he said KPK had also cooperated with various law enforcement agencies from various countries to strengthen the capacity of KPK personnel.

"We are learning from various sources such as on how to use forensic computers from Australia and techniques of investigation from the FBI. Regularly we send our staff for training in the US but it is not also impossible for us to invite a Star Team for example for asset recovering problems from the World Bank," he said.

While not closing the possibility of new technology transfer to trace corruptors Jasin said the cooperation this time with the US was limited to supporting the development of human resources capacity.

RI will not forge ties with Israel, Taiwan: Marty

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Mon, 11/29/2010

Indonesia forging new diplomatic relations with 21 countries - but not Israel and Taiwan, says the nation’s top diplomat.

"We will not open diplomatic relations with Israel until they comply with all available United Nations resolutions," Foreign Affairs Minister Marty Natalegawa said.

Indonesia continued to support Palestinian independence "side by side" with Israel, he said.

Marty said Indonesia would not open relations with Taiwan due to the “One China” policy it previously agreed to with Beijing. (gzl)

Minister: companies unfriendly to environment to get sanctions

Antara News, Saturday, November 27, 2010 23:01 WIB

Bogor, West Java (ANTARA News) - The Indonesian government will take a tougher stance against companies that do not care about the environment.

Companies that neglect environment management will be given sanctions, state minister for environmental affairs, Gusti Muhammad Hatta, said here on Saturday.

He made the statement after attending the presentation of awards to winners of animal photo competition held to mark the Love Flower and National Animals Day at Hotel Safari Garden, Bogor, West Java.

"Many companies still have a black mark. We will give them sanctions if they would not change," he said.

Quoting the results of Company Performance Ranking Evaluation (PROPER) 2010 the minister said that only two companies that were considered good and received a gold mark. The rests received either red, blue, green and black marks.

The minister said the sactions for companies that ignored environment management could be in the form of criminal or civil sanctions but they would be given in stages following an evaluation.

He said the government would take those with a black mark to court if after the second evaluation they still get a black mark.

"We will see in the second year. If the companies that have a black mark get another black mark in the second year and did not change we would give them sanctions and take them to court for a criminal and civil trial, he said.

The minister said it was very difficult to get a gold mark due to a tight evaluation. He said he would prioritize companies with a blue mark that have met standards and made no pollution.

"Companies that prevent air and water pollution get a red mark and they will get a blue mark if they later prevent hazardous B3 wastes. Their mark will turn green if they meet the blue mark requirements and carry out corporate social responsibilities (CSR) and if their internal audit and management are good they will then be awarded a gold mark. Getting a gold mark is very difficult and therefore only two companies have so far got the mark," he said.

PROPER is one of the programs in the supervision of business enterprises` environment management activities aimed at encouraging companies to keep improving their performance in environment management.

The two companies that received a gold mark are Chevron Geothermal Indonesia Ltd., Darajat Geothermal Unit in Garut, West Java, and the Cilacap plant of PT Holcim Indonesia Tbk. in Central Java.

The minister said he would act firmly against companies that did not care about the environment and right now four companies were already being processed in court for that.

Nod for Finance Super-Regulator After Six Years

Jakarta Globe, Dion Bisara | November 27, 2010

Bank Indonesia governor Darmin Nasution, right, shaking hands with Nusron Wahid, a Golkar legislator sitting on House Commission XI for finance. The commission has paved the way for a radical restructuring of the way banking and financial services are policed with an agreement to set up a long-awaited new supervisory authority. (Antara Photo) (Antara Photo)

Jakarta. Indonesian Lawmakers on Friday paved the way for a radical restructuring of the way banking and financial services are policed with an agreement to set up a long-awaited new supervisory authority.

A House of Representatives working committee discussing a draft bill on the Financial Services Supervisory Authority, known as the OJK, agreed on Friday that its board of commissioners would be vested with their full powers by Jan. 1, 2013.

“The board of commissioners will be formed no later than six months after the law is passed,” said Harry Azhar Azis, deputy chairman of the House’s Commission XI, which oversees finance and banking. The House expects the bill to be passed before the end of this year.

“Other matters, regarding the mechanism of choosing the commissioners, its composition and so on are still under discussion,” Harry said. According to the draft bill, the board will consist of seven members, with the Finance Ministry and central bank each supplying one.

The OJK is supposed to take supervisory function over banks from Bank Indonesia and take control of the Capital Market and Financial Institution Supervisory Board (Bapepam-LK), which not only regulates securities markets but also non-banking financial institutions such as insurance firms, pension funds and brokerages. Bapepam would be separated from the Finance Ministry and put under the OJK.

The need for such a superbody was spurred by the 1997-98 Asian financial crisis, with the aim of preventing another banking meltdown.

The idea to establish the OJK came in 2004 when lawmakers saw flaws in the ability of Bank Indonesia to monitor the country’s hundreds of commercial banks.

The 2004 central bank law said the authority had to be established by Dec. 31 this year, but the drafting of the law has been slow as Bank Indonesia, keen to retain the power to oversee the nation’s banks, has said the stability of the financial system may be put at risk. The government finally submitted the bill on June 12.

One issue seen as a spur to efforts to push the bill through was the row over the state bailout of Bank Century to the tune of Rp 6.7 trillion ($745 million) in 2008, which was blamed on mismanagement and poor oversight by the central bank.

Business is putting high hopes on the OJK to help improve the banking system, particularly the performance of local banks.

Speaking on Thursday, James Riady, vice chairman of Lippo Group, to which the Jakarta Globe is affiliated, said better supervision by the OJK would help reassure customers.

“The problem with local banks is trust. They cannot compete with foreign banks that come here bringing their hundreds of years of history,” James said. “Once trust can be ensured, local banks should not worry about competition, because each bank has its own niche.”

Although the central bank’s board of governors has not formally challenged the formation of the OJK, statements by its senior officials showed their clear reticence in handing over part of their supervisory authority.

Opponents of the OJK said it would be so powerful that it could put the financial and economic systems at risk if a wrong political decision was taken in the financial sector. They also argued that in other countries, the central banks control all commercial banks while the finance ministries all non-banking financial systems.

“The banking industry is a bit cautious of the OJK. With all its weaknesses, the central bank is performing better supervision now than 11 years ago. And we still don’t know the details of the OJK,” said Fauzi Ichsan, an economist at Standard Chartered in Jakarta.

Harry said that next year, after the OJK’s board of commissioners had been established, it would be tasked to work on the supervision transition process. It would be financed from the state budget based on standard practice in the financial sector, he said.

“The OJK will propose their budget in the state budget. They can also take premiums from financial industries, but this will require House approval,” Harry said. He added that the premiums levied by OJK would go to the state budget as government revenue.

Additional reporting by Reuters

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Sri Mulyani: ethics, integrity should never be compromised

Sri Mulyani: ethics, integrity should never be compromised

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Sat, 11/27/2010 10:02 AM

Former finance minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati says that ethics and integrity are values public officials should never compromise.

“I believe that gripping tightly ethics and integrity is an uncompromised requisite [for public officials],” Sri Mulyani said in her written speech being delivered during the book launch titled Mengapa Sri Mulyani (Why Sri Mulyani) in Jakarta on Friday evening.

Sri Mulyani said that Indonesia should learn to uphold ethics that put the public good in the top priority.

“It [Indonesia] needs to develop policies that hold responsible of the public in its nation building efforts,” she was quoted by Metrotvnews.com.

She added that compassion and persistence are other valued principles to develop for a country to move forward and gain respect.

Sri Mulyani, well known for her impeccable integrity in bureaucratic reform and international experience, has resigned in May to take the World Bank managing director post hot on the heels of a political crisis which centers on the House of Representatives’ demand for legal measures against Sri Mulyani and Vice President Boediono in connection with the Bank Century bailout in November 2008.

Two Firms Get Top Marks For Being Green Friendly

Jakarta Globe, Fidelis E. Satriastanti | November 26, 2010

Holcim Indonesia's cememt factory in West Java. Two Indonesian operations linked to US geothermal giant Chevron and to Switzerland’s largest cement firm were on Friday awarded the top rating for environmental excellence by the Environment Ministry. (Globe Asia Photo)

Jakarta. Two Indonesian operations linked to US geothermal giant Chevron and to Switzerland’s largest cement firm were on Friday awarded the top rating for environmental excellence by the Environment Ministry.

Chevron Geothermal Indonesia’s Darajat plant in West Java’s Garut district, and Holcim Indonesia’s plant in Cilacap, Central Java, both made it onto the list of “gold” companies, the highest rating for companies judged by the ministry.

Known as the Corporate Environmental Performance Ratings, or Proper, the list is the result of an assessment conducted annually since 2002 by the Environment Ministry to encourage regulatory compliance and punish the worst offenders.

The ratings are color based, with gold being awarded to companies that show the highest compliance with environmental regulations and demonstrate a proactive sense of responsibility toward their surrounding communities.

Companies that make an effort to fulfill the ministry’s “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle and Recover” slogan earn a green rating, while blue is given to firms deemed moderately environmentally friendly.

Moving down the ladder, a red rating indicates a lack of compliance with environmental regulations while black is reserved for companies that knowingly and deliberately pollute the environment.

Receiving a black classification two years in a row can expose companies to legal action.

“The companies were monitored based on their compliance in their water, air and toxic chemicals pollution controls. But there are also two additional elements: their Environmental Impact Assessment [Amdal] documents and toxic chemical waste management,” said Karliansyah, deputy minister for the Environmental Pollution Control Agency.

Karliansyah said the gold-rated Chevron and Holcim plants were awarded green ratings in 2008 and 2009.

Major firms receiving a green stamp of approval this year included Riau Andalan Pulp & Paper, gold mining operation Newmont Nusa Tenggara and coal miner Adaro Energy.

Surna Djajadiningrat, chairman of the Proper list’s advisory council, said it was not surprising that Chevron Geothermal had received a gold rating, as geothermal power was basically a clean industry.

“However, it does not apply for other Chevron [units] in Kalimantan, which received a red rating, so this is also about management,” he said.

A total of 690 companies — state-owned, foreign and local — were assessed this year, with manufacturing, mining, oil and gas, and waste management firms all receiving ratings. A total of 627 companies were rated last year.

The assessments were carried out between April 2009 and July 2010.

Besides the two companies in the gold category, 54 were listed as green, 435 blue, 152 red and 47 in the black. Last year, 57 companies received a black rating.

In the mining, energy, and oil and gas industries, 83 percent of the companies assessed, or 167, complied with regulations, Karliansyah said.

Riza Damanik, secretary general of the Fisheries Justice Coalition (Kiara), criticized the rating criteria, saying that how companies disposed of their waste was given unfair weight.

“It’s not just about waste management but also about how they extract the sources before it becomes toxic waste management,” he said, adding that some highly rated companies on the list were also known to be in serious conflict with local communities.

When is a bank really trading with its money?

The Jakarta Post,  Jesse Eisinger, International Herald Tribune, New York | Fri, 11/26/2010

The regulatory overhaul of the U.S. financial system that passed last summer scored a big victory: It barred investment banks from wagering with their own capital. Some cynics expect Wall Street to find a way around these rules. By ‘‘some,’’ I  conservatively estimate 99 percent of people who do not work on Wall Street and 100 percent of those who do.

Yes, banks like Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase and Morgan Stanley have been jettisoning hedge funds and other  “proprietary traders’’ to comply with the new edict, called the Volcker Rule.

But there is not a clear and bright line here. Defining proprietary trading is extremely difficult because it is almost impossible to distinguish from making markets. Goldman gets most of its profits from trading businesses, but it says that the majority of such trading is for clients. Regulators are struggling to define this, and investment banks are pouring their lobbying muscle into educating them.

To understand why this task is so hard, it is worth going through an obscure transaction that Goldman Sachs completed in  London this year. The story starts in summer 2008. Bear Stearns had collapsed. The housing bubble was bursting. So was another bubble, in loans to high-risk companies. Banks, which had doled out overly generous loans to high-risk corporations,

would get stuck with losses on many of them.

During this period, Goldman Sachs bundled a bunch of these loans into a special concoction called CELF Partnership— or CELF-interested.

Of the ¤1.5 billion deal, worth about $2 billion today, ¤1.2 billion came from Goldman’s own balance sheet. Goldman whipped the deal out the door in July 2008.

Just two months later, the financial crisis roared to a boil and the assets backing the CELF bonds, like all such investments, wilted. Those who had bought into the CELF deal were sitting on paper losses.

The CELF deal got interesting this year. The big investor in the deal, a Dutch pension fund, wanted out. It owned the AAA-rated portion of the CELF deal.

The investor went back to the underwriter, Goldman, and after an auction, the firm bought the bond from its client. Because the market had declined, the investor took a loss.

In addition to buying the AAA position, Goldman also bought some of the equity, or the bottom part of the deal. The equity carried ownership rights. Goldman bought enough equity to become the majority holder of the deal.

By controlling such a deal, an owner can ‘‘call’’ a deal, or unwind the transaction. When that happens, the assets are sold and the owners are paid in sequence, by their seniority. In other words, the AAA holder gets paid in full first, and so on, down to the equity. We know that Goldman took control of the deal because it issued an obscure notice to the Irish Stock Exchange, saying that it now owned a majority of the equity of the fund. That notice listed the Goldman executive who was responsible for the position: Norman Hardie.

So who is Norman Hardie? Does he run a hedge fund that Goldman is booting out the door? Is he a Goldman proprietary trader? No. At the time, he was in charge of a part of Goldman’s structured finance business. Supposedly, that is a division that serves clients. Yet here he was snapping up big pieces of complex deals, putting his firm’s capital at risk.

Goldman made a bundle on the trade. Even though the CELF assets are not worth today what they were in 2008, therewas enough money that in unwinding the trade, all the debt holders — including Goldman — got paid off in full.

The holders of the equity were left with cents on the dollar. For Goldman, the trickwas that it was worth a small losson the equity to make a big gain on the debt. So Goldman made money and some of its clients took losses. At this point, few would be surprised by that.

Still, as the underwriter, Goldman sure seemed to have been in a unique position to profit. Goldman had a thorough knowledge of the CELF assets and knew all the original investors. But was there anything wrong with what it did?

No.

The important point is that this is a big way that Goldman makes money. Yet Goldman says its CELF trade was not proprietary trading at all. It was all done to help its client. What is more, it paid that client above-market rates.

‘‘Our client decided to sell its investment,’’ the firm said in a statement. ‘‘It took independent advice and ran a competitive sale process. We offered the highest price. This is a good example of helping a client achieve its objective, and underscores the critical importance banks play in using their capital to facilitate transactions on behalf of clients.’’ That is very similar to the arguments that the financial industry’s lobbyists will be making to complicate things for the definers of the Volcker Rule.

In the CELF transaction, Goldman took a big risk with its own money. The problem, exemplified by the financial crisis, was that when banks make those bets, they take their big winnings to the Hamptons but saddle American taxpayers with the losses.

There is a new law to curtail this kind of behavior. Because of the way Wall Street does business these days, it is fair to question whether it will work.

Jesse Eisinger is a reporter for ProPublica, an independent, nonprofit newsroom that produces investigative journalism in the public interest.

Santiaga Uno: Indonesia's inspirational entrepreneur

CNN News, By Anna Coren, November 25, 2010

Indonesia's rising star of business (Watch Video)

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Sandiaga Uno is one of Indonesia's wealthiest businessmen
• His company Saratoga Capital employs over 20,000 people
• Uno believes Indonesia has huge potential for growth
• Poverty gap and corruption threaten the country's development, Uno says

Jakarta, Indonesia (CNN) -- Santiaga Uno is without doubt one of Indonesia's richest men.

With an estimated personal wealth of $400 million dollars and assets valued in the billions, the 41-year-old's climb to the top is an inspiration to many budding entrepreneurs.

Yet this father of two, from humble beginnings is not interested in promoting his own story but rather that of his country and its enormous potential.

Dressed in a green batik shirt, a patriotic gesture to the rich cultural heritage of Indonesia, the businessman knows how lucky he is. From his high-rise office building in downtown Jakarta, Uno speaks of the sacrifices his parents made to send him to university in the United States. It was there he discovered an interest in business that led him to a job in Canada.

"I see all these paradoxical situations. Things don't gel and it really ticks me off. We in Indonesia should do better." --Sandiaga Uno, businessman

But his dream of working overseas came to an abrupt end when the company he was working for collapsed, putting Uno out of a job. He was forced to return home, but the timing couldn't have been worse with Asia in economic meltdown from the 1997 financial crisis.

Struggling to provide for his family, Uno decided against the odds to set up his own business and with four staff in a tiny office, Saratoga Capital was born.

Twelve years later it is one of Indonesia's largest investment firms employing more than 20,000 people.

Uno believes failure is just as important as success and while he admits there were plenty of hard knocks he was confident his gamble would pay off in the long term.

"I knew when Asia came out of the crisis energy would be in high demand. So we started getting serious looking at those opportunities," he said.

And now it is energy that is his primary focus; investing in coal, oil, gas, toll roads, plantations and shipping ports.

Indonesia is going through an enormous economic boom thanks partly to its valuable natural resources. Indonesia's stock market is outperforming its neighbors and the region. Growth is expected to reach 6 percent this year and an emerging middle class is fueling domestic demand.

Despite all this success, Uno believes the country's wealth is not being evenly distributed. Around 40 million of the country's 242 million people still live below the poverty line and Uno describes this as a recipe for disaster.

"Basically if we are not careful the rich will get richer and the poor will get poorer and the gap will be the next embryo of the next unrest. So we as businessmen need to make sure the wealth is spread more equally," he said.

Uno is extremely passionate about the future of Indonesia and while he will talk up the country as the next place to invest along side China and India, he's acutely aware and critical of its pitfalls.

He says corruption is the number one problem holding his country back, a view shared by many in the international community. He says to have sustainable growth Indonesia must be attractive to foreign investors.

"I think the government is on the right track in stamping out corruption; it's moving in the right direction. But the speed and pace is not satisfactory, I think people want to see more," he said.

Another major problem is infrastructure and for Uno this has become his "personal crusade". He says anyone who visits the nation's capital Jakarta is greeted by a dilapidated international airport followed by gridlocked roads. His companies have $20 billion to invest in infrastructure projects.

"The money is there, we just need the government to sort out the land acquisition problem among other things which will require changes in the law and then we can start building the infrastructure Indonesia so desperately needs," he said.

Earlier this year, Uno was invited by U.S. President Barak Obama to attend an Entrepreneur's Summit in Washington DC. He describes how impressed he was with the U.S. President who spoke to him in Bahasa and believes the leader of the free world knows just how important Indonesia has become.

Uno says his wealth brings power -- he regularly has the ear of his president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono -- but insists it's not about money or the people you brush shoulders with. His motivation to succeed is much greater than that.

"I see all these paradoxical situations. Indonesia has the 18th largest economy but we're ranked 122 in the world for ease of doing business. It doesn't gel and it really ticks me off. We should do better," he said.

"We are so rich in resources but we can't even produce. For example we produce coca but don't have chocolate factories. We produce crude palm oil but we don't have perfume or soap industries. So we're just exporting our raw materials without being able to process it. I think in the next four to five years Indonesia must be able to generate that expertise."

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Forex reserves strong in facing capital outflow: BI

Antara News, Thursday, November 25, 2010 18:07 WIB

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Bank Indonesia (BI/the central bank) said the country`s foreign exchange (forex) reserves which at present stood at US$91.8 billion could reduce risks of sudden foreign capital outflow.

"The amount of the country`s forex reserves has unexpectedly reached US$91 billion, exceeding that of last year which stood at US$66 billion, and this provides confidence for the monetary authorities in the face of possible sudden reversal to the capital inflow," BI Deputy Governor Budi Mulya said.

He said that BI and the government would do their best to optimize the benefit of foreign capital inflow because it would provide efficiency for manufacturing industry and investment activities.

"Inflow generates declining yields in stocks and loans markets. If this happens, its borrowing costs would go down so that incentives for business financing and investment activities would increase because funding cost would also go down," he said.

For a monetary authority like BI, with the application of a precise policy, foreign capital inflow would help keep inflation at a controllable level and make the rupiah`s appreciation value more competitive than those of other Asean countries` currencies.

"The capital inflow will strengthen expectation regarding inflation and it would provide positive contribution. We see that the capital inflow would not disturb competitiveness because our competitor countries also experience the same thing. If we calculate the level of rupiah appreciation, it would not be the same as that of other countries," he said.

He expressed hope that investment of capital inflow in state bonds or in stocks market would provide positive impact on the real sector, not merely parked for the time being in the money market.

"We hope these funds would later be invested in real markets such as in the foreign capital investment (PMA) projects, after all, realization in 2010 seems to be far higher than that in 2009," he added.

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Busyro Muqoddas Elected to Head Indonesia's KPK

Jakarta Globe | November 25, 2010

Jakarta. Busyro Muqoddas has been elected head of Indonesia's Corruption Eradication Commission.

Busyro Muqoddas has been elected head of Indonesia's
Corruption Eradication Commission. House of Representatives
Commission III, which oversees legal affairs, voted 34-20 in
favor of Busyro over human rights campaigner Bambang
Widjajanto. (JG Photo)

House of Representatives Commission III, which oversees legal affairs, voted 34-20 in favor of Busyro over human rights campaigner Bambang Widjajanto.

Busyro won by 34 votes and Bambang got 20 votes out of a total of 55 votes. One commission member abstained.

Busyro, the outgoing chairman of the Judicial Commission, impressed the lawmakers with his desire to see stronger punishment for those convicted of corruption.

He proposed making corruption a human rights violation rather than a simple violation of the Criminal Code, which would allow for tougher punishment.

“Corruption is actually a crime against humanity,” Busyro said during his fit-and-proper test on Wednesday.

He added that it would require concerted political will from both the government and lawmakers to amend the law.

Lawmakers asked the candidate about his ability to withstand attempted political influence during his work at the KPK, which is one of the few respected branches of government.

Busyro, who is not affiliated with a political party, said a KPK commissioner would only react to political intervention if he or she had a serious political burden or a “hidden political agenda.”

“I don’t have either of these,” he said.

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Dutch queen’s father ‘was involved in arms trade’

RNW, 24 November 2010

Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands

Historian Gerard Aalders from the Netherlands Institute for War Documentation (NIOD) says Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands (Queen Beatrix's father) was involved in arms dealing in Indonesia around 1950. Dr Aalders makes his allegation in his book, Bernhard Zakenprins (Bernhard, Prince of Business) which is published on Thursday. Prince Bernhard died in 2004.

The historian has not unearthed any evidence that the prince actually bought or sold arms himself. However, he says he has indirect evidence from which it can be deduced that the husband of Queen Juliana became involved with the arms trade with the aim of bringing about the fall of the government of newly independent Indonesia.

“A number of arms dealers knew Prince Bernhard personally and the infamous Afghan arms dealer Ali Shah visited him at Soestdijk Palace for business talks,” says Dr Aalders. He says his conclusions are “98 percent complete”. He believes many important records remain behind closed doors.

Indonesian Vice-president Hatta and Dutch Queen Juliana at the signing ceremony in The Hague at which the Dutch recognized Indonesian sovereignty. (27 Dec.1949)

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Minister warns of "moral hazard" in foreign capital flows

Antara News, Wednesday, November 24, 2010 22:39 WIB

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Finance Minister Agus Martowardoyo said he hoped the flow of foreign capital into the housing development and property sectors would not create a "moral hazard."

"Foreign capital will flow into the capital market, the share market and usually also into sectors where they would be easily accepted and where they could easily be invested including the property sector. Therefore, I advise those in the financial system to be alert so that no moral hazard will arise," he said here on Wednesday.

He said if the foreign capital was used for financing, people must be alert towards three possible mismatches of a kind that had caused the economic crisis in the US in 2008.

"The three mismatches are short-term funds being used for long-term purposes, funds with floating rates being used as loans with fixed rates and loans in foreign currencies especially strengthening currencies being invested in weakening currencies," he said.

He said if banks received the cheap and possible short-term funds and used them for financing in the housing sector they must also anticipate a possible reversal.

"Be careful towards a possible moral hazard which usually occurs in financing which is not done prudently. So if the funds should leave they cannot be withdrawn because they have already gone into the property or riskier activities," he said.

He said to make the foreign capital inflows remain in Indonesia the government had taken steps such as advising state-owned companies to conduct a stock offering or a right issue to attact investment and make the funds go into more productive sectors.

"So it would maintain the trade balance, the balance of payments, fiscal conditions, financial industry`s healthy, position competitive and encourage state-owned companies to go public, to conduct a right issue, investment which has already been done and they are all aimed at directing the funds to more productive use," he said.

Minister Agus predicted foreign capital would continue to come to Indonesia until 2011 and the government and the central bank continued coordinating and preparing a protocol for dealing with a financial crisis.

"We believe the current conditions would continue until in the middle of 2011. We (the government and BI) have already taken a lot of measures and also have already implemented the financial crisis protocol and would keep coordinating and so we keep alert," he said.

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BI preparing blueprint for sharia banking

Antara News, Wednesday, November 24, 2010 18:01 WIB

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Bank Indonesia (the central bank/BI) is preparing a blueprint for the development of sharia banks in the country to boost them to grow at a fast and sustainable pace, its deputy governor said.

The blueprint would carry a number of long-term policies to develop sharia banks in the world`s biggest Muslim country from 2011 to 2015, Halim Alamsyah said at a seminar on the sharia banking industry here on Wednesday.

"We are in the middle of finalizing it (the blueprint)," he said.

The blueprint would focus on seven pillars -- human resources development, effective arrangement and control, supporting infrastructures, effective banking structure, strategic alliance, effective customer empowerment and product innovations, he said.

The seven pillars would later be translated into programs as part of efforts to implement the blueprint in five years` time, he said.

"When the blueprint is ready we will discuss it with the sharia banking industry, the national sharia council and the government as we have set ourselves the target of developing the sharia banking industry as part of the national economy," he said.

He said the sharia banking industry grew at a very encouraging pace in the past five years with their total assets growing an average of 33 percent per year.

As per October 2010 the total assets of the sharia banking industry stood at Rp86 trillion, accounting for 3.1 percent of the total assets of the national banking industry.

"We have set the annual growth target of the sharia banking industry`s assets at 5 percent. Given the present performance, we are convinced the target can be achieved in the not so distant future," he said.

He also expressed his belief third party funds put in sharia banks would also continue to increase if they could benefit from the current capital inflows into the Indonesian economy.

"Sharia banks have the potential of raising as much funds as possible from the Middle East to finance more productive activities," he said.

Nokia Pledges Easy Payment for Phone Apps in Indonesia

Jakarta Globe, Shirley Christie | November 23, 2010

Jakarta. Struggling mobile phone giant Nokia plans to allow cellphone operators to bypass credit cards and deduct the cost of downloaded applications directly from users in Indonesia next year.

A Nokia E75 mobile phone is being used in this file
photo. Nokia say that distribution of phone apps will be
conducted via 'operator billing' which allows even prepaid
users to buy. (AFP Photo/Lehtikuva/Antti Aimo-Koivisto)

Dubbed “operator billing,” it makes it easier for software vendors to sell applications directly to users through Nokia’s Ovi Store without the hassle of credit cards.

Nokia also promises a minimum 60 percent revenue share for developers, considerably more than many current arrangements.

During a press briefing in Jakarta last week, Kenny Mathers, head of developer relations for Forum Nokia Asia Pacific, said the company’s Ovi Store was the only mobile application store in the world to offer operator billing.

With low credit card penetration often cited as a barrier to customers buying mobile applications in Indonesia, Nokia said operator billing should eliminate that hurdle, even for prepaid users, since the cost of applications can be deducted directly from a user’s mobile phone credit.

“Our research shows that two out of three people choose to pay with operator billing instead of credit card billing,” Mathers said.

Nokia began the program with the launch of the Ovi Store in May 2009. It has deals with 99 cellphone providers in 29 countries to offer operator billing.

However, the company refused to say which cellphone operators it would be working with in the Indonesian market or give an exact date for the launch of the service here.

Local software start-up Swamedia, which currently offers its Shopping Planner and two other applications for free through the Ovi Store worldwide, hopes operator billing will allow it to generate online revenue.

Deded, Swamedia’s account manager, says the company is currently just seeking global recognition on the Ovi Store but will soon start charging customers for its applications.

For Nokia, giving developers a bigger share of the revenue pie is a way to try and reverse the ongoing slide of its Symbian operating system, which has seen an 8 percent market share decline in the last year, largely due to the rise of Google’s open source Android system.

In the third quarter of 2010, Symbian had a 36.6 percent market share worldwide, compared to 25.5 percent for Android.

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Indonesia-Singapore Agree on a Transnational Banking Supervision

Tempo Interactive, Tuesday, 23 November, 2010 | 14:55 WIB

TEMPO Interactive, Jakarta:Bank Indonesia and the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) have agreed on a transnational banking supervision framework. The MoU between the two authorities was signed by Bank Indonesia Governor Darmin Nasution and MAS Managing Director Heng Swee Keat in Bali, Saturday last week.

Darwin said that cooperation is important as part of the country’s effort in facing the global financial crisis impact. The cooperation would be in the form of discussions and information exchanges between the two authorities. A similar agreement has been signed with Bank Negara Malaysia (Malaysian Central Bank).

AGUS SUPRIYANTO

Former Social Affairs Minister Accused of Stealing From Victims of Natural Disasters

Jakarta Globe, Nivell Rayda | November 23, 2010

Former Minister of Social Affairs Bachtiar Chamsyah before his trial in the Anti-Corruption Court got underway on Tuesday. He faces life imprisonment for his alleged roles in three separate cases of corruption, which are said to have cost a total of Rp 36.6 billion ($4.1 million) in state losses. (JG Photo / Afriadi Hikmal).

Jakarta. Former Social Affairs Minister Bachtiar Chamsyah faces life imprisonment for his alleged roles in three separate cases of corruption — including one case in which he allegedly profited from victims of natural disasters — which are said to have cost a total of Rp 36.6 billion ($4.1 million) in state losses.

The Anti-Corruption Court on Tuesday began hearing Bachtiar’s trial. Prosecutors from the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) formally indicted the United Development Party (PPP) politician, accusing him of violating articles 2 and 3 of the 1999 Law on Corruption.

Lead prosecutor Zet Todung Allo told the court that in all three cases, Bachtiar had appointed companies without tender processes linked to the procurement of live cows, sewing machines and sarongs.

Zet, reading the indictment, said Bachtiar violated the law for personal profit, or to allow others or private corporations to profit.

In the first case, Bachtiar is suspected of collaborating with a private importer, PT Atmadhira Karya, to mislead the government about the number of live cows imported from Australia in 2004.

Atmadhira later channeled Rp 800 million to a non-profit foundation owned by Bachtiar, Insan Cendikia.

That same year, the ministry appointed PT Ladang Sutera Indonesia to provide 6,000 sewing machines to assist home industries nationwide.

The KPK said, however, said that ministry officials had contrived for the machines to be distributed to major companies because they were unsuitable for use by small and medium enterprises.

In the third case, Bachtiar allegedly conspired with businessman Cep Ruhyat to rig the procurement of sarongs earmarked for victims of natural disasters in 2006 to 2008.

Bachtiar denied enjoying illicit funds from the projects, saying that his former director general on social aid and security, Amrun Daulay, was in charge of the procurement processes.

Amrun is now a lawmaker from the ruling Democratic Party headed by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.