Pushing for Change in Doing Business in Indonesia

Jakarta Globe, Muhamad Al Azhari & Tito Summa Siahaan, November 29, 2013

Company executives pose with their sustainable business awards at the Business
 for the Environment (B4E) Summit in Jakarta on Thursday. The event stressed that
environmentally sound business practices should be the standard to strive for.
(JG Photo/Yudhi Sukma Wijaya)

Gone are the days when companies operating in Indonesia had no obligation to pay any attention to the environment, with the country’s investment chief now calling for a sea change in how environmental sustainability should be viewed in the context of doing business.

“For Indonesia, it is not just a voluntary decision to be a part of this global undertaking,” Mahendra Siregar, the chairman of the Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM), said on Thursday at the Business for the Environment (B4E) Indonesia Summit 2013 in Jakarta.

“Sustainable development, and sustainable investment is not just a matter a choice, it is not just an option. It is a must,” he said.

More sustainable and environmentally friendly business practices have increasingly become more important for investors, stakeholders and shareholders, Mahendra told business leaders, top government officials as well as prominent figures from nongovernmental organizations at the B4E summit.

“Unless your business model, the supply-chain activities are already very much in accordance globally and nationally recognized sustainable practices, then it is just a matter of time before you are out of business,” said Mahendra, a longtime bureaucrat who has held various important positions in the government.

The summit was hosted at the Shangri-La Hotel in Jakarta by the Indonesian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Kadin), Global Initiatives, BeritaSatu and the Indonesian Business Council for Sustainable Development (IBCSD). The Jakarta Globe is a BeritaSatu publication.

The new paradigm being pushed by Mahendra has elsewhere been dubbed green economy practices.

According to United Nations Environment Program, a green economy is defined as “one that results in improved human well-being and social equity, while significantly reducing environmental risks and ecological scarcities.”

In its simplest form, a green economy should result in low carbon emissions, be resource efficient and socially inclusive.

Around 400 delegates from various stakeholders, including local and multi-national companies, had a chance to discuss recommendations for sustainability, natural capital valuation as well as investments in sustainable forestry and agricultural landscapes during the summit.

Key figures speaking at the forum included Bayu Krishnamurthi, the deputy minister for trade; Peter Holmgren, the director general of the Center for International Forestry Research (Cifor); and IBCSD president Shinta Kamdani.

“If we understand the big picture, then individually we can share our ideas and initiatives to enrich not only the discussion, not only the conceptual thinking, but more importantly to the concrete deliverable that are now much needed than just an issue of negotiations,” Mahendra said.

“There are no other options.”

Indonesian companies, particularly palm oil producers and pulp and paper companies, have long been criticized by environmental organizations for massive deforestation that contributes to greenhouse gas emissions.

Some Indonesian companies have adopted green business practices while others are only starting to catch up to the new measures. Analysts note that an obstacle to making the business model standard practice is that it requires a large amount of investment, which can discourage many companies from spending the money on such an investment. Lack of awareness is also to blame, observers say, but the trend appears to be changing.

“Increasingly investors look at companies from a perspective called ESG, or environmental, social and governance,” said Tony Gourlay, the chief executive of Global Initiatives, a forum that promotes sustainable global development through a series of media projects and international events like the B4E Summit series.

“There are some criteria that private banks, private equity companies and institutional investors, see when they make decisions to invest,” he said.

Shinta said many companies “still have very limited understanding about what sustainable development is.”

“Some think that corporate social responsibility is sustainable development, and some say that if they talk about green, it should be in the context of public relations affairs, or marketing tools, or a means to promote the company,” she said.

The IBCSD is a CEO-led association from corporations operating in Indonesia. Members of the association, which was conceived by Kadin in April 2011, share a commitment to promoting sustainable development and the main aim of encouraging companies to apply ecological balance, apart from best social practices.

“I think we should change those kind of mind-sets and I believe there should be a set of standards for what we call green business,” said Shinta, who is also the chief executive and owner of Sintesa Group, a conglomerate with a diversified portfolio covering property, industrial, energy and consumer businesses.

The B4E Summit also honored the winners of the second annual Sustainable Business Awards (SBA), which recognize best practices and leadership in sustainable business among Indonesian companies.

Developed in partnership with Kadin, BeritaSatu, Global Initiatives and PricewaterhouseCoopers, the SBA methodology mixes the best sustainability benchmarking and awards processes globally to deliver green business growth.

Twenty-one companies received awards on Thursday night, coming from various sectors, including construction, banking and finance, health care, and even pulp and paper.

“This shows Indonesian companies are realizing that sustainable business makes sense for many reasons,” Gourlay said.

Senior government officials have emphasized that sustainable business is not merely a concept, but something that is reflected in national policies.

Bayu, the deputy trade minister, said sustainability in business meant sustainable economic growth for the country.

“We implement sustainable practices not because we have to, but because we need to,” he said.

He added the Trade Ministry had directed its policies toward sustainable practices with a view toward three objectives: environmental protection, fair trade, and economic growth.

“That’s why we have some of the toughest licensing rules in the world for timber product, known as SVLK, and for palm oil, known as ISPO,” Bayu said.

“With these rules, we want to make life very difficult for those who don’t follow the highest standards of sustainability.”

The strongest call for companies to go greener, however, has always come from customers. One example of how pressure from customers effected positive change can be seen in Unilever, the consumer goods giant that invested in a palm oil processing plant in the Sei Mangkei Special Economic Zone (SEZ) of North Sumatra, specifically to allow it enable the traceability of the palm oil used in its products.

“Unilever plans to purchase palm oil sustainably from certified, traceable sources by 2020,” the company said on its website. “As one of the world’s largest buyers of palm oil for use in products such as margarine, ice cream, soap and shampoo, Unilever recognizes the need to be able to trace where its palm oil is grown. Unilever also wants to ensure certified palm oil supplies are not mixing with non-certified supplies during milling, transport and use,” Unilever said. The plant will be operated by a Unilever subsidiary, Unilever Oleochemical Indonesia, and is scheduled to start commercial production next year.

Indonesia, Australia take steps to calm spy row

Google – AFP, Olivia Rondonuwu (AFP), 26 November 2013

Australia's Prime Minister Tony Abott (C) and Indonesia's President Susilo

 Bambang Yudhoyono (R) are followed by Margie Abbott (L) and Ani Yudhoyono (2L)

 during a visit to the presidential palace in Jakarta on September 30, 2013 (AFP/File,

Adek Berry)

Jakarta — Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said Tuesday Australia's leader had made "important" commitments aimed at ending a row over spying but warned much more work was needed before ties returned to normal.

But even as tensions calmed with Canberra, they threatened to escalate elsewhere, with Yudhoyono saying his government would summon the South Korean and Singaporean envoys over new espionage claims.

Allegations that Australian spies tried to listen to the phones of Yudhoyono, his wife and his ministers in 2009 surfaced last week and sparked a diplomatic crisis.

Jakarta reacted furiously, ending cooperation on military exercises and in the key area of people-smuggling and recalling its ambassador from Australia.

Indonesia was further infuriated by Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott's failure to apologise or offer what it saw as a clear explanation.

But on Tuesday Yudhoyono struck a conciliatory tone after receiving a letter from Abbott aimed at calming the row with a key ally and trading partner.

The letter contained a "commitment from the Australian PM that Australia will not do anything in the future that will disadvantage or disturb Indonesia", the president said.

"That is a very important point," Yudhoyono added.

He said Abbott supported his proposal to come up with a "protocols" and a code of ethics to govern relations between the neighbours that were "clear, fair and abided to".

Yudhoyono described a long process, that would involve assigning the foreign minister or a special envoy to work with the Australians.

After the details were hammered out, a formal ceremony would have to take place to bring the new agreements into place, attended by both Abbott and Yudhoyono, said the president.

Only after the two countries have "regained trust" in this fashion could normal relations and cooperation be restored, said the president.

However Yudhoyono reacted angrily to new reports that South Korea and Singapore helped with US-Australian surveillance in the region.

The Sydney Morning Herald reported Monday that both countries played key roles in a "Five Eyes" intelligence network grouping the United States, Britain, Australia, Canada and New Zealand.

It quoted a top-secret US National Security Agency map that it said was published by Dutch newspaper NRC Handelsblad.

The president said that even though Indonesia was not specifically named in the reports, he was nevertheless angry as the whole of Asia was mentioned.

"I have instructed our foreign minister to ask for an explanation from the ambassadors of those countries," he said.

A presidential spokesman confirmed Yudhoyono meant the envoys would be summoned.

Malaysia's foreign ministry earlier Tuesday summoned the ambassador from neighbouring Singapore over the same report.

The report said that as a major hub for regional telecommunications traffic, Singapore was an important link in the surveillance network.

The allegations that Australian spies targeted Indonesian officials has also sparked anger among the Indonesian public, and on Tuesday a crowd of demonstrators in military-style uniforms protested outside the Australian embassy.

The protesters, from a paramilitary group, burned photos of Abbott and demanded the Australian ambassador leave the country.

The alleged spying was first revealed by Australian media last week, which based its reports on leaked documents from US intelligence fugitive Edward Snowden.

They showed that Australia's electronic intelligence agency tracked Yudhoyono's activity on his mobile phone for 15 days in August 2009 under the previous Canberra government.

At least one phone call was reportedly intercepted.

Members of Pemuda Pancasila burn a picture of Australia’s Prime

 Minister Tony Abbott during a protest against claims that Australian

 spies targeted the phone of Indonesian President Susilo Bambang 

Yudhoyono, outside the Australian embassy in Jakarta on Nov. 26,

2013. AFP Photo/Adek Berry)

Related Articles:

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SBY Focus of Australia Spy Attempt: Report

Malaysia Summons Singapore Envoy as Spying Claims Widen

US lawmakers in Berlin for NSA talks

Dutch PM Visit to Indonesia Yields ‘Concrete Results’

Jakarta Globe, November 25, 2013

Netherland’s Prime Minister Mark Rutte, left, poses with Indonesia’s President
Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, right, during a visit at the presidential palace in
Jakarta on Nov. 20, 2013. (AFP Photo/Adek Berry)

As many as 21 agreements worth millions of dollars have been signed between Indonesian and Dutch companies in various sectors during the visit of the Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte to Jakarta last week.

Retno LP Marsudi, the Indonesian ambassador to the Netherlands, described the visit as “a big success” in term of the acceptance of the visit by the Indonesian public and results that were achieved.

“We have achieved so many concrete results during the visit,” she said.

The two governments signed several agreements to bring the relations to a new era, with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono praising Indonesia-Dutch relations as providing concrete solutions to Indonesian problems while Rutte describing the bilateral cooperation being very beneficial to both nations after their meeting on Nov. 20.

Rutte brought with him nearly 200 businesspeople from 110 companies, the biggest ever Dutch delegation to visit Indonesia. The group includes the Dutch biggest companies, such as Phillips and Friesland Campina.

Both Yudhoyono and Rutte launched the unprecedented comprehensive partnership that aimed to boost cooperation in at least 11 sectors, including water management, logistics, infrastructure, food security, agriculture, energy and education.

Hatta Rajasa, Indonesian chief economic minister, said that Indonesia expected to double trade and investment with the Netherlands from the current $5 billion and $1.3 billion respectively in five years.

“We will work harder because this is a new opportunity, especially since we have reduced license procedures, increased transparency and provided incentives,” he added.

He expressed the hope that Indonesia could become a marketing base for Dutch companies to enter Southeast Asia by 2015. Similarly, the Netherlands could become the base for Indonesian companies hoping to enter Europe.

“We want to become a single market by 2015. We hope that Indonesia can become the base for Dutch companies to enter the Asean market and, in turn, Rotterdam in the Netherlands can become our base to expand into the European market,” he said.

With regard to the national coastal development management, he said the Dutch government had expressed its intention to help and participate in the Great Sea Wall project, which is expected to start in 2014.

The Netherlands has funded a plan for a massive sea wall in Jakarta Bay to prevent tidal flooding and to manage the flow of water within the capital.

The area behind the 35-kilometer-long, 15-kilometer-wide wall will be turned into office complexes, malls and other commercial buildings. There is even a plan to relocate all government offices to the area once it is completed by 2025.

“We are cooperating with the Netherlands. We plan to carry out the project together. After the master plan is finished, we will offer it as a public-private cooperation project,” Hatta added.

In business-to-business deals, Van Oord, a Dutch port company, will work on a $27 million project to create five islands around Tanjung Perak port in Surabaya. An industrial estate will be built on the new land.

“Indonesia faces big marine engineering challenges,” Van Oord chief executive Pieter van Oord said, after the contract signing at Tanjung Priok in Jakarta in the presence of Rutte.

“The broad experience of Dutch engineers in protecting low-lying areas and the construction of land makes good cooperation possible.”

Work on the project will start in December and will continue until spring 2014. The project will involve dredging 4,000,000 cubic meters of sand from the sea bed and using it to construct five islands with a total area of 220 hectares. The contract will also include the installation of rock. Van Oord will be deploying a large trailing suction hopper dredger on the project.

In food security and agriculture, the Indonesian Horticultural Seed Producers Association (Hortindo) and its Dutch counterpart agreed to cooperate in developing horticulture in Indonesia. “For us, cooperation is very important because the Netherlands is the world’s second-largest exporter of horticultural products,” Hortindo spokesman, Glenn Pardede said.

“The Dutch investors want to develop potato and large yellow onion plantations in Indonesia,” he noted.

In the education and health sectors, several universities in the Netherlands signed agreements with their counterparts in Indonesia.

Hasanuddin University in Makassar and the Academic Medical Center of the University of Amsterdam (AMC) agreed to work together to create a state-of-the-art heart center in the eastern Indonesia’s biggest city.

Meanwhile, Erasmus University, a Dutch university with a leading health center in Europe, signed agreements with Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta and Airlangga University in Surabaya to build health research centers for patient care.

On logistics and training, the Bandung Institute of Technology, Surabaya Institute of Technology, the Indonesian Transport Operators Association and the Indonesian Logistics Association teamed up with Dutch’s STC and Panteia/NEA to enhance cooperation on education, training, capacity development, research and consultancy in transport and logistics.

In the aviation and airport sectors, the Indonesian Civil Aviation Training Center and JAA will work together to boost the aviation safety training to meet international aviation safety standards while becoming a center of excellence in the region.

The string of accidents that have rocked Indonesia’s aviation industry, raising concerns in the safety standards applied by the country’s industry.

In addition, Indonesia’s Jaya Teknik and Dutch Vanderlande Industries signed a contract on improving the handling of baggage at the New Soekarno-Hatta International Airport Terminal 3.

Especially in palm oil plantation, Vice President Boediono asked Rutte to help Indonesia overcome obstacles that had hindered its palm oil exports to the Europe.

“Palm oil is a very important and sustainable industry in Indonesia. We hope that palm oil exports will increase again,” Boediono told Rutte during their meeting last Friday.

In response, Rutte said that he would try to resolve bottlenecks in Indonesian palm oil exports.

“I understand that there are 3.7 million workers in the palm oil industry, and that palm oil is a large and important industry for Indonesia. Hopefully, it can gradually improve,” he said.

Boediono also asked the Netherlands to cooperate in developing Indonesia’s depleted infrastructure, many said has become the main stumbling block for the country to develop further into an advance nation.

“We need investors from the Netherlands to help develop our infrastructure,” he said.

Prime Minister Mark Rutte and Indonesian Ambassador to the
Netherlands Retno LP Marsudi, side by side in The Hague.
(Photo courtesy of Indonesian embassy)

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The Dutch Return, This Time as Friends

Police Detain Aceh Shariah Police Chief Over Graft Suspicion

Jakarta Globe, Nurdin Hasan, November 22, 2013

An Acehnese woman (R) rides on the back of a motorcycle on April 12, 2013
 in Lhokseumawe city in Aceh, the only province to implement Islamic sharia law
in Indonesia. (AFP Photo/Romeo Gacad)

Banda Aceh. Detectives with the Banda Aceh Police have arrested and detained the head of the province’s shariah police on suspicion of embezzlement, an officer said on Friday.

Sr. Comr. Moffan Mudji Kafanti, who heads the Banda Aceh Police, told the Jakarta Globe that Khalidin Lhoong, chief of the shariah police, was officially detained late on Thursday afternoon and be questioned on Friday. He is being accused of misappropriating part of the wages for contract-based personnel of the shariah police.

“He is being detained on suspicion of having embezzled part of the salary — around Rp 650,000 [$56] — for each of his 1,000 underlings. The total sum he embezzled reached Rp 650 million,” Moffan said.

He said that the suspect attempted to return the money he embezzled once police began probing the case.

“Witnesses said the suspect had enjoyed the money he cut from the salaries,” Moffan said. “But after the police started to investigate him, he quickly returned the money.”

The witnesses said that the reason Khalidin had given for cutting the salaries was allegedly to pay for sports uniforms, urine tests and machines to print and laminate member cards.

Moffan said that police had actually planned to arrest Khalidin in September, but because he was due to go on the hajj, the police waited until one week after he returned from Mecca, Saudi Arabia.

He said that another suspect in the same case, identified as Teuku Armansyah, who heads the administrative bureau for the Aceh Shariah Police, was also arrested.

The two could face at least five years in jail for violating the nation’s Anti-Corruption Law.

Moffan also said that police had completed the dossiers for each of the two suspects, and that they will soon submit them to the prosecutor’s office for the indictment preparation.

Khalidin told journalists at the city police headquarters that he was innocent, claiming that the salary cut was agreed upon by the concerned personnel.

He also maintained that none of the money from the cuts went into his own pockets.

However, Moffan, remained adamant that the police would pursue the charges against Khalidin.

“He is free to comment, but from the information from the treasurer of the Aceh Shariah Police, it is clear that he did enjoy the money,” he said. “But when the police began investigating him, he quickly returned the money.”

Under a special autonomy granted to Aceh following an agreement in the 2005 peace pact that ended decades of separatist conflict in the province, the region was granted the authority to enforce partial shariah law. The judiciary and the education system are subject to elements of Islamic law, as are social mores.

SBY and Dutch PM Rutte Oversee Signing of Two Cooperation Deals

Jakarta Globe, Ezra Sihite, November 21, 2013

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte hold Wednesday’s edition of the Jakarta Globe
after meeting with Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. (JG Photo)

The Indonesian and Dutch governments have signed two cooperations deals officiated on Wednesday by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte.

One cooperation agreement was signed by Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa and Dutch Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation Minister Lilianne Ploumen.

The second deal, on water management, was signed by Minister of Marine Affairs and Fisheries Sharif C. Sutardjo and Dutch Agriculture Minister Sharon Dijksma.

“The relationship between Indonesia and the Netherlands is good and developing,” Yudhoyono said after the deal signing.

“We believe the countries, through effective cooperation, can do better for both our interests.”

Yudhoyono noted that the economic relationship between the two countries was quite promising. In 2012, amid the global economic crisis, total trade between Indonesia and Netherlands still reached $5 billion.

“We have agreed to develop the cooperation in various concrete sectors and we have agreed to find new opportunities,” he said.

Rutte, in an interview with the Jakarta Globe in the Netherlands before his trip, said that the Dutch had always had to deal with high water and sea waves in order to survive, as the Netherlands is partly below sea level. He added that his country could provide state-of-the-art technology, developed to combat these problems, for Indonesia to use.

“It’s time for the Netherlands to empower Indonesians by equipping them to fish, not by merely providing the fish,” said Jesse Kuijper, a businessman who was to join the delegation visiting Indonesia.

In logistics, Dutch companies could help Indonesia build world class seaports. In agriculture, several Dutch firms have offered their Indonesian counterparts investment and technology to enable the country’s farmers to reap high crop yields— at a time when prices are rising and the nation is struggling to feed its people.

Rutte has said that Europe and the Netherlands are facing tough times.

“We have a difficult period at the moment. I do believe that we have made good strides but there is still a long way to go,” he said, adding that he admired Indonesia’s high economic growth of around 6 percent annually.

“We are jealous,” he said, smiling.

The latest figures from the Dutch Central Bureau of Statistics show the Netherlands economy grew by just 0.1 percent in the last quarter.

CBS also reported that there were 46,000 fewer jobs in the third quarter.

Related Aricle:

The Dutch Return, This Time as Friends

SBY Focus of Australia Spy Attempt: Report

Jakarta Globe – AFP, Martin Parry,November 18, 2013

Australian spy agencies attempted to listen in to the phone calls of Indonesian
 President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and also targeted his wife and senior ministers,
 reports said on Nov. 18, 2013, in revelations described as ‘shocking’. (AFP Photo/Torsten
Blackwood)

Sydney. Australian spy agencies attempted to listen to the phone calls of Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and targeted his wife and senior ministers, reports said Monday, drawing a demand for answers from Jakarta.

Secret documents leaked by US whistleblower Edward Snowden, obtained by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and The Guardian newspaper, name the president and nine of his inner circle as targets of the surveillance.

The embarrassing details emerged with bilateral ties between the strategic allies already strained over previous spying allegations and how to deal with asylum seekers heading for Australia via Indonesia.

The documents show that Australia’s electronic intelligence agency, the Defense Signals Directorate, tracked Yudhoyono’s activity on his mobile phone for 15 days in August 2009, when Labor’s Kevin Rudd was prime minister. It reportedly intercepted at least one call.

A list of targets also included his wife Ani, Vice President Boediono who was in Australia last week, former vice president Jusuf Kalla, the foreign affairs spokesman, the security minister and the information minister, the reports said.

Yudhoyono’s office demanded an explanation from Canberra.

“The Australian government urgently needs to clarify on this news to avoid further damage,” spokesman Teuku Faizasyah told AFP in a text message.

“The damage has been done,” he added.

The ABC said one of the documents was titled “3G impact and update” and appeared to chart attempts by Australian intelligence to keep pace with the rollout of 3G technology in Indonesia and across Southeast Asia.

A number of intercept options were listed and a recommendation was made to choose one of them and to apply it to a target — in this case the Indonesian leadership, the broadcaster said.

The latest release of Snowden documents comes just weeks after reports claimed Canberra’s overseas diplomatic posts, including in Jakarta, were involved in a vast US-led surveillance network, which sparked an angry reaction from Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa.

This was followed by The Guardian reporting earlier this month that Australia and the United States mounted a joint surveillance operation on close neighbor Indonesia during 2007 UN climate talks in Bali.

In an interview with the ABC on Sunday, before the latest revelations, Vice President Boediono played down suggestions of a rift with Australia, shrugging off the disputes as normal neighborly problems.

“It’s normal for next-door neighbors to have problems,” he said. “I think Australians and Indonesians are quite committed to the long-term interests of both countries.”

But he admitted to public concern in Indonesia over the espionage allegations.

“And therefore we should find some joint ways to allay public concern,” he said.

Alexander Downer, the foreign minister under John Howard’s conservative government, said the revelations were damaging to Australia.

”It’s a shocking situation in which Australia will pay a big price,” he told Sky News, while Greens leader Christine Milne said it showed the “extent to which this country has slipped down the US path of universal surveillance.”

“The question here is what is the justification for trying to spy on the phone calls of the president or his wife? Is it national security, in which case are we saying we think our closest neighbor’s president is a security risk to Australia?” she asked.

Former US National Security Agency (NSA) contractor Snowden was given asylum in Russia in August, to the fury of the United States where he is wanted on espionage charges following disclosures that have provoked international uproar and strained ties with allies.

He is also behind revelations of American spying in Germany, including the tapping of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s phone.

Agence France-Presse

The Indonesian Ambassador to Australia Nadjib Riphat Kesoema is seen leaving

 for Jakarta at the airport in Canberra, Australia, on Nov. 19, 2013. (EPA

 Photo/Daniel Munoz)

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A North Jakarta Fishing Community Learns How They Are Being Cheated

Jakarta Globe, Ismira Lutfia Tisnadibrata, November 18, 2013

A worker walks between dried fish during dry fish processing at Marunda
beach in North Jakarta, on Sept. 2, 2013. (Reuters Photo/Beawiharta)

Members of the Muara Angke fishing community in North Jakarta make their living from the sea, but it is a living that many residents say is increasingly at risk from pollution and environmental degradation.

So when one of Indonesia’s corporate law firms recently organized a class in Muara Angke, residents packed a community hall to learn about fishery and environmental laws, and to be briefed on city bylaws and regulations for running a small business, including the process to secure a business permit (SIUP) and certification for home-based food businesses.

Tri Sutrisno, a youth activist in the area, welcomed the initiative and said it offered important information that could benefit residents.

He said, for example, that residents had learned that obtaining a SIUP should be free, as regulated in a 2012 Jakarta bylaw, as opposed to the Rp 1 million ($86) or more that residents reported being regularly asked to pay in the past.

“The process is apparently quite simple and should not be as complicated as we have encountered,” he said after participating in the class, organized by the law firm Soewito Suhardiman Eddymurthy Kardono (SSEK), along with 75 other residents at the hall.

“I also found out from the session that the docking fee for a 30 to 50-ton fishing boat is actually only Rp 75,000, according to a city bylaw. In reality, we have to pay an exorbitant fee of up to Rp 1.5 million every time we dock our vessel,” Tri said.

Though the deeply ingrained bureaucratic culture of red tape and illegal fees will be hard to eliminate, Tri said, at least residents were now more aware of the laws and regulations that affect their lives and their livelihoods.

That, according to Denny Rahmansyah — a partner at SSEK who helped organize the event on Oct. 19 — was the goal. He said they did not expect an immediate sea change, but the firm wanted to give the community the knowledge that would allow them to begin improving their lives.

Another partner at the firm, Dyah Soewito, agreed that it was important to take that first step of familiarizing the community with the law.

“SSEK came to Muara Angke and organized this seminar because understanding the law, realizing what is expected and required of them, and of officials, is the first step for residents in fighting for and obtaining their rights,” she said.

Basso Tawang, a retired fisherman, said understanding the law was important for pushing back against the environmental degradation of Jakarta Bay that has made it difficult for fishermen to earn a living.

Basso, who was born in South Sulawesi but moved to Jakarta with his family when he was young, said he and the other Muara Angke residents now knew more about gathering evidence of environmental damage and filing complaints with the appropriate government agencies.

“Jakarta Bay is heavily polluted and it is no longer the pond of milk as described by Koes Plus in their song,” Basso said, referring to the song “Kolam Susu,” or “Pond of Milk,” by the Indonesian band. The song talks about the riches of Indonesia’s waters, with fishermen able to count on a fruitful harvest even when using just a net or fishing pole.

The legal session was held in cooperation with the North Jakarta Police, who spread the word about the class to the local community, which is administratively unrecognized by the city, and encouraged residents to attend and empower themselves to run small-scale fishery businesses.

Head of the Sunda Kelapa subdistrict police, Anton Elfrino Trisanto said police fielded numerous complaints from residents about business deals gone wrong.

Salim Gunawan, a community leader, said he had been victimized by his former business partners.

“I used to run my own flower crab wholesale business but I was conned out of money and went bankrupt,” he said, adding that it was the result of blindly trusting his partners without having the proper legal knowledge of how to run a business.

Anton said the police welcomed the chance to empower the Muara Angke community. “It could help them in doing business,” he said.

Beijing to tackle monopolies, introduce competition: CPC

Want ChinaTimes, Xinhua 2013-11-16

A PetroChina gas station in Shijiazhuang, Hebei province. PetroChina is the listed
 arm of CNPC, one of the main companies in China's oil industry, a government
monopoly. (Photo/CNS)

China will promote market-oriented reform in state-owned enterprises (SOEs) by further breaking monopolies and introducing competition, according to a document issued on Friday after a key meeting of the Communist Party of China.

The functions of different SOEs will be clearly defined, the document said.

More state-owned assets will be channeled into public welfare SOEs. Those in natural monopoly sectors, such as energy and minerals among others, will separate government functions from enterprise management, promote franchises and government monitoring of them will be improved, according to the document.

Administrative monopolies will be further broken and competitive business will be introduced, the railway sector being one example. This will mean resources are better allocated, the document said.

Information disclosure, such as financial budgets of SOEs, will be further explored, the document said.

The country will promote checks and balances in SOEs' corporate governance, set up professional manager system so outside talent can be hired and introduce more competition among management, the document said.

Salaries and business spending among management in SOEs will be regulated, the document said.

Indonesia National Auditor Finds $5b Worth of Irregularities

Jakarta Globe, Robertus Wardi & Novi Lumanauw, November 12, 2013

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono receives the audit from hai Poernomo,
chairman of the Supreme Audit Agency. (Rumgapres Photo/Abror Rizki)

The government audit body discovered almost 14,000 instances of financial irregularities amounting to trillions of rupiah in the first half of 2013 alone.

The Supreme Audit Agency ( BPK) attributed the irregularities to weaknesses in internal control systems and non-compliance of Article 18 of the State Audit Law, passed in 2004.

“Based on the audit result for the first semester of 2013, we found 13,969 instances of irregularities with the sum of Rp 56.98 trillion [$5 billion],” said BPK chairman Hadi Poernomo after submitting the report to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono at the Presidential Office on Monday.

Hadi said based on the findings, 4,589 cases could lead to a further Rp 10.74 trillion in potential state losses. Other findings involved 779 irregularities in administration, inefficiencies, and ineffectiveness bringing a total loss of Rp 46.24 trillion.

Hadi said the audit covered 597 objects and were conducted on the central government, regional governments, state enterprises, regional enterprises, and other institutions which manage the state’s money.

Based on the audit types, 519 were conducted on financial reports, nine on performance and 69 special purpose audits (PDTT).

Meanwhile, a BPK report from July 6 shows that a presidential adviser and several Papuan legislators received hundreds of millions of rupiah under the guise of social aid from the budget of one of the least developed provinces in the country.

It was revealed that recipients of the money included local councilors and presidential adviser Velix Vernando Wanggai, who received Rp 200 million.

The BPK report said the money to Velix, paid by the Papua provincial administration, was meant for the printing expenses of 3,000 copies of a book titled “Development for All: Managing Regional Development.”

Robert Jitmau, an analyst on social matters, said the money should have been allocated for the underprivileged.

“It’s called social aid, which means it should be used for social activities,” he said.

“The councilors and the presidential adviser should be fighting for the people’s rights and not taking it from them.

“The money they took should have been for the people to fight for their interests,’’ Robert added.

Although the recipients were able to account for the money, Robert said it was still unethical of them to have accepted.

Australia denies rift with Indonesia

Googel – AFP, 6 November 2013

Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop addresses the press during the 68th

United Nations General Assembly, in New York, September 25, 2013 (AFP/File,

Emmanuel Dunand)

Sydney — Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop has denied a rift with strategic ally Indonesia over spying allegations as she left Wednesday for the Bali Democracy Forum.

Canberra's relationship with Jakarta is under pressure after reports last week that Australia's overseas diplomatic posts were involved in a vast US-led surveillance network.

The problems were compounded by a report on Sunday citing a document from US whistleblower Edward Snowden showing that Australia and the United States mounted a joint surveillance operation on Indonesia during 2007 UN climate talks in Bali.

Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa

 addresses the 68th United Nations General

 Assembly at UN headquarters in New York,

 September 27, 2013 (Pool/AFP/File, Eduardo

Munoz)

An angry Jakarta on Monday said it would co-sponsor a draft resolution at the UN General Assembly highlighting concern at US-led data snooping while threatening to review its bilateral cooperation with Australia.

Despite this, Bishop denied relations were frayed.

"I don't accept that there has been a rift," she told ABC television late Tuesday.

"I'm looking forward to having a very productive conversation with Dr Natalegawa and other Indonesian ministers."

Bishop added that she had a "very fruitful" discussion with visiting Indonesian ministers on Tuesday about the mutual benefit of working together on issues such as combating terrorism and people-smuggling.

"The bilateral cooperation that exists between our two countries in areas such as people-smuggling and counter-terrorism is of mutual benefit, of mutual advantage to both countries, and that will continue to be the case," she said.

But Labor opposition foreign affairs spokeswoman Tanya Plibersek said it was clear the relationship was in trouble after some "serious mis-steps" since the new conservative government led by Prime Minister Tony Abbott was elected in September.

"The relationship with Indonesia was handed to the incoming Australian government in very good working order," she said, adding that former foreign minister Bob Carr had a "very close rapport" with Natalegawa.

"And now we have an Australian foreign minister having to fly to Indonesia to explain herself and apologise."

Plibersek pointed to the government's lack of consultation with Jakarta over asylum-seeker policy, a lock-out of Indonesian journalists at an Abbott press conference and its failure to adequately explain the spying claims.

Indonesian elections are expected in the coming months, but Bishop refused to speculate on whether the polls were influencing Jakarta's recent rhetoric.

"That's a matter for Indonesia to answer," she said.

The annual Bali Democracy Forum, established by Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in 2008 to promote the development of democracy in the Asia-Pacific region, is being held from November 7-8.

Bishop will speak on the topic "Building and Strengthening Democratic Institutions".

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