Indonesia punishes firms over deadly forest fires

Yahoo – AFP, December 22, 2015

Indonesia is punishing more than 20 companies in an unprecedented move for
starting deadly forest fires that killed 19 people (AFP Photo/Adek Berry)

Jakarta (AFP) - Indonesia is punishing more than 20 companies in an unprecedented move for starting deadly forest fires that killed 19 people, a government official said Tuesday.

Three companies have been shut down permanently after having their licences revoked over their role in the blazes that choked vast expanses of southeast Asia with acrid haze and cost Indonesia $16 billion.

It is the first time the government has revoked company licences over forest fires, an annual occurrence caused by slash-and-burn land clearance.

The environment ministry also froze the operations of 14 companies and said they face closure if they do not meet the government’s demands over fire prevention.

Several other companies have been given a strong warning and will be put under close supervision.

"We have sanctioned 23 companies in total, ranging from administrative sanctions to license revocation, while 33 others are still in the process, they could have their licenses revoked too if they are found guilty," environment ministry official Kemal Amas told AFP.

The ministry has been investigating 276 companies in total since the fires broke out in September.

Three companies have been shut down permanently by Indonesia after having

 their licences revoked over their role in the blazes that choked vast expanses of 

southeast Asia with acrid haze (AFP Photo/Adek Berry)

"We need firmer law enforcement so that this catastrophe does not repeat itself, it’s been going on for 18 years but nobody has learnt their lesson," Amas said.

Amas said the ministry was also working hard to restore the forests and farmland destroyed in the fires.

Activists welcomed the government’s new commitment to punish firms.

The Indonesian Forum for Environment said it was unheard of for the government to revoke licences, as many companies previously avoided facing trial.

"The minister has the courage to not only freeze the companies' operation but also chase the owners in a civil case, this is great and this must be guarded carefully," Kurniawan told AFP.

"In the past some people were named suspects, but for them to actually lose their licenses, this is the first time," he said.

More than half a million people suffered acute respiratory infections in Indonesia because of the haze, while many in neighbouring Singapore and Malaysia also fell ill.

IMF approves China's yuan as elite reserve currency

Yahoo – AFP, Veronica Smith, 30 Nov 2015

The yuan, also known as the renminbi, will join the US dollar, euro, Japanese yen 

and British pound in the basket of currencies the IMF uses as an international

reserve asset (AFP Photo/Philippe Lopez)

Washington (AFP) - The International Monetary Fund welcomed China's yuan into its elite reserve currency basket on Monday, recognizing the ascendance of the Asian power in the global economy.

The yuan, also known as the renminbi, will join the US dollar, euro, Japanese yen and British pound next year in the basket of currencies the IMF uses as an international reserve asset.

IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde called the decision "an important milestone in the integration of the Chinese economy into the global financial system."

"It is also a recognition of the progress that the Chinese authorities have made in the past years in reforming China's monetary and financial systems."

The move by the IMF executive board, representing the institution's 188 member nations, solidifies China's ambition to see the government-controlled yuan achieve global status as one of the world's top currencies alongside the United States, Europe and Japan.

China, the world's second-largest economy, asked last year for the yuan to be added to the Fund's Special Drawing Rights basket.

But until recently the currency was considered too tightly controlled to qualify. The yuan already had met the IMF criteria for being widely used.

The board approval had been widely expected after IMF staff experts earlier in November said that Chinese authorities had taken the steps necessary for the yuan to be called "freely usable", and Lagarde endorsed their recommendation.

International Monetary Fund Managing Director Christine Lagarde, said on 

November 30, 2015 the yuan's inclusion in the elite reserve currency basket was

expected to help China open up further to the world economy (AFP Photo/
Mandel Ngan)

Lagarde said the yuan's inclusion in the basket was expected to help China open up further to the world economy.

"The continuation and deepening of these efforts will bring about a more robust international monetary and financial system, which in turn will support the growth and stability of China and the global economy," she said.

IMF members can use the Special Drawing Rights basket to obtain currencies to meet balance-of-payments needs. The Fund also issues its crisis loans -- crucial to struggling economies like Greece -- valued in SDRs.

The yuan's entry into the basket takes effect on October 1, 2016.

China's central bank has taken steps to free up the movement of the yuan. The unexpected devaluation of the yuan last August received good marks from the IMF as it expanded the currency's movements based on market forces.

In addition, Beijing last Wednesday announced that an initial group of foreign central banks has been allowed to enter the Chinese currency market, which likely will promote further internationalization of the yuan in global trading.

Chinese challenges

But China is expected to face challenges with the yuan included as an IMF reserve currency.

It puts the Bank of China under pressure to provide more transparency in line with its peers, such as the Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank.

Lagarde, speaking at a news conference, said the IMF had worked "very hard" in the last few months in the process of making the decision.

She emphasized that it is a work in progress, and that the IMF will continue to monitor all criteria and compliance from all five authorities whose currencies are represented in the basket.

The composition and weightings of the SDRs basket are reviewed every five years. The last time the currencies in the basket were changed was in 2000, when the euro replaced the German deutschemark and the French franc.

The inclusion of the yuan in the IMF basket came with the support of the United States, the IMF's largest shareholder.

Until recently Washington accused China of keeping the yuan artificially low to gain a trade advantage. But in October the US Treasury Department softened its tone, saying that after Beijing's moves to loosen controls, the yuan "remains below its appropriate medium-term valuation."

Still, the IMF decision risks angering some lawmakers in the US Congress amid fierce maneuvering for the 2016 presidential election.

Congress, for example, has repeatedly refused to ratify a 2010 IMF reform that would give greater weight to China and the four other emerging-market powers in the so-called BRICS: Brazil, Russia, India and South Africa.

For Most Indonesians, KPK Is the Only Credible Graftbuster

JakartaGlobe, Yustinus Paat, November 26, 2015

A poll of 1,500 respondents by Indonesia Corruption Watch found that an
overwhelming 98 percent felt the KPK was necessary in Indonesia’s fight against
graft. (Antara Photo/Ismar Patrizki)

Jakarta. Most Indonesians feel the national antigraft commission is indispensable, in the absence of strong and consistent law enforcement by police and prosecutors, a survey has found.

The poll of 1,500 respondents by Indonesia Corruption Watch found that an overwhelming 98 percent felt the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) was necessary in Indonesia’s fight against graft.

Respondents also rated the KPK higher than the National Police and the Attorney General’s Office on a scale of 1 to 10 of how committed they were to tackling corruption.

“They gave an average score of 5.3 for the police, 5.6 for the AGO, and 7.8 for the KPK, meaning they believe the KPK can do a better job when it comes to handling corruption cases compared to the other two,” Firdaus Ilyas, ICW’s research coordinator, said at the release of the survey’s findings in Jakarta on Thursday.

The poll also found, unsurprisingly, that respondents considered the House of Representatives the top priority for the KPK to tackle. Corruption perception indexes have consistently ranked the House as being among the most graft-ridden institutions in Indonesia.

“Thirty-four percent of the respondents said the House should be the KPK’s first target, followed by 22 percent for the police, 13 percent for the courts, 8 percent each for ministries and political parties, 7 percent for the state-owned companies, and 5 percent for the AGO,” Firdaus said.

The findings from the survey chime with a similar poll released last month by Indo Barometer, showing the KPK was by far the most trusted public institution in Indonesia, well ahead of the AGO and the police force.

Supreme Court Chief Welcomes EU-, UNDP-Backed Justice Reform Project

Jakarta Globe, Erwin Sihombing, November 24, 2015

The Sustain Project, which will run until June 2019, aligns with the Supreme
Court’s own roadmap for reform. (Antara Photo/M. Agung Rajasa)

Jakarta. Supreme Court Chief Justice Hatta Ali has hailed a project being carried out with the European Union and the United Nations that seeks to reform Indonesia’s justice system.

The Sustain Project, which will run until June 2019, aligns with the Supreme Court’s own roadmap for reform, Hatta said in Jakarta on Tuesday, especially in the fields of monitoring , training, human resource management, and case management.

“This project, in cooperation with the EU and the UNDP, will create both long- and short-term advantages for Indonesia [in terms of justice system reform],” he said.

The Sustain Project is also aimed at strengthening Indonesia’s special courts, such as those for fisheries and for juveniles, including by certifying judges serving in children’s courts.

While the project is being implemented nationwide, it will pay particular focus on pilot projects at courts in regions such as Ambon in Maluku province; Bandung and Cibinong in West Java; Bitung and Manado (North Sulawesi); Jayapura and Sorong (Papua); Kabanjahe and Medan (North Sumatra); Kupang (East Nusa Tenggara); and Pontianak and Singkawang (West Kalimantan).

Christophe Bahuet, the UNDP director for Indonesia, said “We are certain that the cooperation with the Supreme Court, the EU and the UNDP will produce perfect decisions [necessary] to improve the country’s justice system and the public trust in it.”

Asean Establishes Landmark Economic and Security Bloc

Jakarta Globe, Trinna Leong, November 22, 2015

Asean leaders joined China's Premier Li Keqiang at the summit in Kuala Lumpur,
Malaysia. (AFP Photo/Fred Dufour)

Kuala Lumpur. Southeast Asian nations on Sunday established a formal community that attempts to create freer movement of trade and capital in an area of 625 million people with a combined economic output of $2.6 trillion.

The community declaration was signed by leaders of the 10- member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) in Kuala Lumpur, this year's host of the group's annual summit.

Twelve years in the making, the Asean community is a landmark in the 48-year history of a group founded at the height of the Cold War as an anti-communist bulwark.

The Asean Community includes a political, security and socio-cultural dimension in a region with governments ranging from communist in Vietnam and quasi-military in Myanmar to the kingdom of Brunei and the boisterous democracy of the Philippines.

But it is the economic community that offers the most concrete opportunities for integration in a region whose combined gross domestic product (GDP) would make it the world's seventh-largest economy.

In practice, Asean has already virtually eliminated tariff barriers among the 10 countries, said Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, the summit host, at the signing ceremony. "We now have to ensure that we create a truly single market and production base, with freer movement of goods and services."

At the closing news conference, however, he said Asean had no specific deadline for achieving zero tariffs, but would aim for "meaningful deliverables that can be done every year when we meet at the Asean summit."

The combined GDP of the Asean economies is expected to grow from $2.6 trillion to $4.7 trillion by 2020, Najib said, and could become the world's fourth-largest economy as a bloc as early as 2030.

The countries aim to harmonize economic strategies, recognize each other's professional qualifications and consult more closely on macroeconomic and financial policies.

They have also agreed to enhance the connectivity of their transportation infrastructure and communications, better facilitate electronic transactions, integrate industries to promote regional sourcing, and enhance private-sector involvement in the economy.

Eight groups of professionals will be able to work more easily throughout the region: engineers, architects, nurses, doctors, dentists, accountants, surveyors and tourism professionals.

Asean groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

Reuters

Related Articles:

ASEAN nations establish regional economic community to compete with India, China


"Message for South America" - Nov 16, 2015 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) - New


"The End of History" -  Nov 20, 2010 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll)

" ... South America and the New Energy

South America is starting to consider the same thing. My partner was just there and I allowed him to see the energy of the potential future in that land.

I would like to paint history for you regarding South America. There was a time when every single country had a dictator. Less than 15 years ago, they had failing economies and currencies that were worthless. Trouble and strife and killings were the norm. Marauding drug lords openly killed in the streets and corruption was everywhere. Even the politicians created fear and many disappeared overnight, never to be seen again. Today it isn't that way. Today, there is an ongoing stability as one country after another brings a new, positive, stable energy to their cultures. So, without a concentrated effort by any kind of multi-national leadership or direction, how could this have changed in only 15 years?

Within the entire continent, there's only one dictator left. What's happening? If you think that's amazing, there is a move afoot that you're not going to hear about yet. But they're discussing it right now, so let me tell you what they're thinking. "What would happen if we took these countries and eliminated the borders?" Sound familiar? They're talking about it. In back rooms where nobody is reporting it, they're saying, "What about a plan of eventually having one currency from the top of Columbia to the bottom of Chile? And we would be strong and we would be unified." And dear ones, I'm here to tell you, that it's going to work, and it might not take 50 years. Soon the one dictator will be gone, and the unification can begin.

There's a shift happening on this planet ...."

Minister: Indonesia Putting Executions on Hold to Focus on Economy

Jakarta Globe, Basten Gokkon, 19 Nov 2015

Luhut Pandjaitan, the coordinating minister for political, legal and security affairs,
 told reporters in Jakarta on Thursday that President Joko Widodo would not
authorize any more executions pending efforts to revive the economy, which is
growing at its slowest pace in six years. (Reuters Photo/Darren Whiteside)

Jakarta. The Indonesian government has announced a moratorium on carrying out the death penalty in order to focus on improving a sputtering economy.

Luhut Pandjaitan, the coordinating minister for political, legal and security affairs, told reporters in Jakarta on Thursday that President Joko Widodo would not authorize any more executions pending efforts to revive the economy, which is growing at its slowest pace in six years.

“The government needs to focus on Indonesia's economy first,” Luhut said, without giving a time frame for the suspension of executions.

The Joko administration has drawn widespread condemnation from the international community for reviving the death penalty that the previous administration of Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono had largely shelved.

Under Joko, Indonesia has this year put to death 14 people convicted of drug offenses, 12 of them foreign nationals, including a mentally ill Brazilian and two Australians who had reformed and were providing classes and ministry for fellow prisoners.

China welcomes IMF backing to make yuan world reserve currency

Yahoo – AFP, 14 Nov 2015

The yuan has rapidly grown in importance in recent years as China -- the world's

 top trading nation -- has used it to settle more of its commerce, and made it 

directly convertable with more currencies (AFP Photo)

China on Saturday welcomed backing from IMF experts that the yuan should be included in its reserve currencies, saying the move would strengthen the world's financial system.

Now the world's second-largest economy, China asked last year for the yuan to be added to the elite basket of SDR currencies, but until recently it was considered too tightly controlled to qualify.

It now looks likely the yuan will be formally admitted to the IMF's "special drawing rights" currency basket at the end of the month, which would mark a milestone in China's efforts to become a global economic power.

IMF chief Christine Lagarde said the fund now deemed the yuan "meets the requirements to be a 'freely usable' currency" -- a key hurdle to joining the yen, dollar, pound and euro as a leading unit in international trade.

The yuan hit headlines in August when China's central bank devalued the currency and said it would use a more market-oriented system to calculate the point around which the currency can trade each day.

International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde says the fund now deems

 the yuan "meets the requirements to be a 'freely usable' currency" -- a key hurdle 

to joining the yen, dollar, pound and euro as a leading unit in international trade 

(AFP Photo/Yasser al-Zayyat)

The move sent markets into a tailspin as investors took it as a sign of slowing growth in China, a key driver of the world economy, but the central bank on Saturday said such reforms had taken it closer to joining the SDR basket.

"China thinks that the inclusion of the RMB (yuan) into the SDR basket will strengthen the representativeness and the attraction of the SDR (and) that it will improve the existing international monetary system," the People's Bank of China (PBoC) added.

"It will have win-win benefits both for China and the world."

Yuan's rapid rise

The yuan has rapidly grown in importance in recent years as China -- the world's top trading nation -- has used it to settle more of its commerce, and made it directly convertable with more currencies.

Including the Chinese currency in the SDR would likely boost demand for yuan-denominated assets among central banks, and give it a sheen of respectability at a time when many investors are questioning Beijing's ability to manage the slowing economy.

Lagarde said IMF experts ruled Beijing had addressed "all remaining operational issues" required for SDR inclusion, which will be decided by the executive board at a November 30 meeting.

Now the world's second-largest economy, China asked last year for the yuan to 

be added to the elite basket of SDR currencies, but until recently it was considered 

too tightly controlled to qualify (AFP Photo/Wang Zhao)

"I support the staff's findings," she said, adding to expectations that the board will also back the yuan.

That would mark an about turn from the beginning of August -- before the yuan devaluation -- when the Fund said the currency was not freely usable enough to be included in the basket.

Despite the recent misgivings, there has been strong pressure for the IMF to act now as the SDR basket is only reviewed every five years.

If a decision to include the yuan is made this month, the actual inclusion could take place as late as September 30, 2016, giving Beijing more time to prepare.

The recommendation Friday was broadly backed by the United States, China's main rival for world economic supremacy.

"We intend to support the renminbi's inclusion in the Special Drawing Rights basket provided the currency meets the International Monetary Fund's existing criteria," the Treasury Department said, using another name for the yuan.

"We will review the IMF's paper in that light."

Yudhoyono to Joko: Don’t Force Indonesia to Enter TPP

Jakarta Globe, Hayat Indriyatno, October 31, 2015

Yudhoyono, whose foreign policy mantra was 'A thousand friends, zero enemies,'
has cautioned Joko to look at the geopolitical consequences of signing up to the
 TPP, which conspicuously leaves out China but includes US ally Japan.
(Antara Photo/Prasetyo Utomo)

Jakarta. Former president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has cautioned his successor against signing up to the Trans-Pacific Partnership, insisting the justifications he gave for refusing to join the trade pact while in office are still valid today.

In a series of tweets sent on Friday, Yudhoyono said President Joko Widodo had every right to commit Indonesia to the US-initiated pact, but warned that “If Indonesia is not ready and is forced to enter the TPP, then our nation will suffer. Such is the ‘law of globalization.’”

The essence of the TPP, he wrote, “is trade and investment liberalization.”

“The TPP is actually a good thing, if all the member states are ready, their interests are accommodated and there are real benefits all parties,” he said.

“But if we’re not ready for it, our market will be flooded with goods and services from other countries, while our exports will fail to be competitive abroad.”

Yudhoyono said his reasons for refusing to sign up to the TPP when he was in office included the fact that Indonesia was preparing for a similar agreement on a Southeast Asian scale: the Asean Economic Community, which comes into force at the end of this year.

He added that Indonesia also needed time to see the benefits from another trade pact, the Asean-China Free Trade Agreement, which saw Jakarta’s trade deficit with China doubling within a year of coming into full force in 2010.

Yudhoyono also pointed out that the three other Asean countries that had signed up to the TPP – Malaysia, Singapore and Vietnam – had fundamentally different economic models from Indonesia. “The economies of Singapore, Malaysia and Vietnam […] are ‘export-oriented.’ Indonesia is not. We have a large domestic market,” he tweeted.

He said that in order to protect its interests, Indonesia would have to be “tough” in its negotiations – but that the current TPP members had concluded their negotiations on Oct. 5.

Yudhoyono, whose foreign policy mantra was “A thousand friends, zero enemies,” also cautioned Joko to look at the geopolitical consequences of signing up to the TPP, which conspicuously leaves out China but includes US ally Japan.

“Let us ensure that we remain friendly with all our partners, including America, China and Japan,” he wrote. “Let us maintain a free and active foreign policy […] an all-directions foreign policy. Avoid allying with one country and distancing others.

“Let us also ensure that, whichever side we partner with, Indonesia’s national interests will be prioritized above all else.”

He then called on the Indonesian people to help Joko reach an “appropriate and clear decision for the interests of the people and the nation.”

Pastikan Indonesia mendapatkan keuntungan nyata ~ dlm pertumbuhan ekonomi, lapangan kerja & pengurangan kemiskinan. *SBY*

— S. B. Yudhoyono (@SBYudhoyono) October 30, 2015

Joko’s announcement, following a visit to the White House on Monday, that he was committed to signing Indonesia to the TPP has met with concern from the business community and the political establishment alike.

Yudhoyono’s own statements follow his Democratic Party’s warning that Indonesia is not yet ready to face the competition that joining the pact would entail, citing inadequate infrastructure and low public awareness about the TPP and its costs and benefits.

“Are Indonesians and the national economy really ready for this?” asked Edhie Baskoro Yudhoyono, the former president’s son and a senior member of the Democratic Party.

“How about our domestic infrastructure? Has the government asked for the public’s opinion, especially those involved in the national economy, about the possible impact of the TPP on Indonesia in the future?”

Wrong step

The Great Indonesia Movement Party (Gerindra), chaired by Joko’s rival in last year’s presidential election, Prabowo Subianto, has also criticized the president’s stance on the TPP.

Fadli Zon, a Gerindra deputy chairman and deputy speaker of the House of Representatives, said the TPP would only benefit Indonesia “if we had competitive businesses.”

Without adequate infrastructure and strong supporting education, welfare and legal systems, he warned, Indonesia would only be a “passive player” in the trade agreement.

“It would be a wrong step to join the TPP,” Fadli said on Wednesday.

Economist Lana Soelistianingsih of the University of Indonesia said separately that “Countries with manufacturing-based exports will be able to perform better in this partnership.”

“Our exports are mainly raw materials like oil and gas. If we can we get our commodities into a market like Chile” – which has signed up to the TPP – “can we compete with Brazil, which is much closer to Chile than Indonesia is? That’s the concern,” Lana said on Wednesday.

“How can we improve our manufacturing sector without electricity? It’s not that we should refrain from entering the partnership, but we need a clear blueprint on what products we want to sell, which raw materials we need to manufacture the products, and what kind of infrastructure we need,” she said.

The TPP, forged by the United States and other 11 countries around the Pacific Rim, including Australia and Canada, has a stated goal to “to promote economic growth; support the creation and retention of jobs; enhance innovation, productivity and competitiveness; raise living standards; reduce poverty in our countries; and promote transparency, good governance, and enhanced labor and environmental protections.”

In practice, the biggest impact will be the lowering of trade barriers, including tariffs.

The #TPP - a 12-nation free trade agreement pic.twitter.com/1h82wFRF68

— Agence France-Presse (@AFP) November 5, 2015

Related Article:

German frustration builds over TTIP secrecy from US

Bringing the Internet within reach of 100 million Indonesians from 20 kms above Earth

Google Blog, Thursday, October 29, 2015  

In Indonesia today, only about 1 out of every 3 people are connected to the Internet. And even though most of their connections are painfully slow, they’re doing some pretty incredible things. Startups like motorcycle delivery service Go-Jek are building impressive adaptations to Indonesia’s unique challenges, while small businesses like fashionable hijab shop HiJup are using the web to redefine marketplaces.

Still, a majority of Indonesians don’t have access to the educational, cultural, and economic opportunities of the Internet. That’s why we’re pleased to announce that Indonesia’s top three mobile network operators—Indosat, Telkomsel, and XL Axiata—have agreed to begin testing Project Loon balloon-powered Internet over Indonesia in 2016. These tests represent an important step toward bringing all of Indonesia online.

From left to right: Ririek Adriansyah, CEO of Telkomsel; Dian Siswarini, CEO of
XL Axiata; Alexander Rusli, CEO of Indosat; Mike Cassidy, VP of Project Loon;
Sergey Brin, President, Alphabet Inc

Loon balloons act like floating mobile phone towers; flying on the stratospheric winds at altitudes twice as high as commercial planes, each balloon beams an Internet connection down to the ground, and as one drifts out of range, another moves in to take its place. Loon can help telecommunications companies extend their networks; high in the sky, we can help overcome the difficulties of spreading equipment across an archipelago of 17,000 islands of jungles and mountains, providing connectivity to even the most remote islands.

Project Loon balloons travel approximately 20 km above the Earth’s surface in

 the stratosphere. Winds in the stratosphere are stratified, and each layer of wind 

varies in speed and direction. By moving with the wind, the balloons can be 

arranged to form one large communications network

  

Over the next few years, we’re hoping Loon can partner with local providers to put high-speed LTE Internet connections within reach of more than 100 million currently unconnected people—that’s enough speed to read websites, watch videos, or make purchases. From Sabang all the way to Merauke, many of these people live in areas without any existing Internet infrastructure, so we hope balloon-powered Internet could someday help give them access to the information and opportunity of the web.

But it’s not the only step Google is taking toward making the Internet both accessible and useful for people in Indonesia. Android One phones are helping to make high-quality smartphones more accessible in a country where most people first access the Internet on a mobile device. And along with that, we’re working to ease the use of data with features sure as Search Lite, which streamlines search so pages load more quickly, or by optimizing web pages so that they require less data to load. Indonesia is also one of the first countries where YouTube users can take videos offline to watch later during periods of low or no Internet connectivity.

We’re also doing what we can to ensure that language isn’t a barrier to the opportunities of the web. Google Translate was introduced for Bahasa in 2008, and more recently we’ve expanded it to Sundanese, a language that’s spoken by nearly 40 million people living on the island of Java.

Soon we hope many more millions of people in Indonesia will be able to use the full Internet to bring their culture and businesses online and explore the world even without leaving home. And for those of you who’ve never been to this country of rich culture and natural beauty, we invite you to head over to Google Street View to explore the famous temples at Borobudur and Prambanan.

Posted by Mike Cassidy, Vice President, Project Loon

Joko Cuts Short US Trip to Deal With Fire, Haze Crisis

Jakarta Globe, Basten Gokkon, October 27, 2015

President Joko Widodo inspects a firefighting operation on burning peat forest in
Pulang Pisau district, Central Kalimantan, on Sept. 24. The president has cut short
 his inaugural visit to the United States to coordinate a response to the worsening
forest fires. (AFP Photo/Romeo Gacad)

Jakarta. President Joko Widodo has decided to cut short his first official visit to the United States as a forest fire crisis blazes out of control back home.

“The president has received recent updates from the minister for politics, legal and security affairs minister regarding the haze that has affected more Indonesian people,” Arrmanatha Nasir, a spokesman for the Foreign Ministry, told the Jakarta Globe late on Monday.

He said Joko and part of his delegation would immediately return home on Tuesday after attending scheduled events in Washington, D.C., where the president met with President Barack Obama, congressmen and US executives on Monday.

Joko’s return means he will not attend much-anticipated meetings with technology executives from Apple, Google and Microsoft, among others. Representing him in Silicon Valley instead, Arrmanatha said, will be the communications and trade ministers, as well as the head of the Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM).

Arrmanatha said the president would fly to either South Sumatra or Central Kalimantan once he arrives back in the country. Both provinces are among the hardest hit by forest fires generating intense volumes of health-threatening haze.

A top legislator earlier on Monday lashed out at the president for going abroad just as the fire and haze crisis worsens. Up to three-quarters of Indonesia is affected to varying degrees by the haze.

Related Articles:

Indonesia fires can't be put out, Malaysian minister warns
Singapore banks urged to curtail loans to haze-linked firms

#INFOGRAPHIC Updated map and pollution data on the Southeast Asian haze @AFP pic.twitter.com/rIWRmxjas1

— Agence France-Presse (@AFP) October 27, 2015

Big Tobacco Dangles Big Bucks – but at a High Costi

Jakarta Globe, Basten Gokkon, October 22, 2015

Indonesia, where two-thirds of the adult male population smokes and two-fifths
of boys aged 13 to 15 also puff, remains one of the few bright spots for international
tobacco companies amid crackdowns by governments the world over.
 (EPA Photo/Stephen Morrison)

Jakarta. Tobacco control activists have urged the Indonesian government to turn down a $2 billion investment plan from one of the world’s biggest tobacco companies, citing public health concerns.

President Joko Widodo is scheduled to visit the United States next week where he will sign several agreements with the US government and American businesses, among them Philip Morris International, which has a 98 percent stake in H.M. Sampoerna, Indonesia’s biggest cigarette maker.

The deal with PMI will reportedly see the tobacco company invest $2 billion in Indonesia.

There has been no official word on what the money will go toward, but a confidential letter from Foreign Minister Retno L.P. Marsudi to President Joko Widodo, obtained by the Jakarta Globe, states that $500 million will be in the form of capital expenditure for H.M. Sampoerna.

The remaining $1.5 billion, the letter indicates, will apparently be raised through a share divestment, with proceeds going to the Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM) and the Health Ministry – the very same government institution tasked with enforcing tobacco-control measures.

Health Minister Nila F. Moeloek is known to be among the officials joining Joko when he kicks off his US trip this Sunday.

Neither the minister nor a spokesperson for the Health Ministry were immediately available for comment on the reported funding from the tobacco company. The Globe was unable to reach any PMI officials for comment.

‘Poisoning Indonesians’

Kartono Mohamad, the chairman of the government-funded National Commission on Tobacco Control (NCTC), said any investment by PMI in Indonesia would do more harm than good over the long term.

“Accepting the investment offer from Philip Morris means the president is poisoning Indonesians and selling out public health over mere investment,” he told the Globe.

Indonesia, where two-thirds of the adult male population smokes and two-fifths of boys aged 13 to 15 also puff, remains one of the few bright spots for international tobacco companies amid crackdowns by governments the world over. It is the only country in the Asia-Pacific region that has yet to sign the World Health Organization’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC).

PMI’s global net revenue in 2014 was $8.7 billion, down 16.9 percent from the previous year, and with countries in the region, such as Australia and Malaysia, tightening controls on tobacco sales and marketing, there is more of an incentive than ever for big tobacco to invest in Indonesia, Kartono said.

“Once Philip Morris has planted its $2 billion here, it will certainly look for a profit, and so long it still sees the benefits, we won’t be able to oust it from the country,” he said.

No political will

The government has shown little political will to act tough on cigarette sales and advertising, including to children. Last month the House of Representatives announced plans to recognize kretek, the traditional Indonesian clove-flavored cigarette, as an item if cultural heritage – thereby making it harder for the government to impose restrictions on kretek sales and advertising, and in fact obliging the state to support the manufacture and promotion of the cancer sticks.

Kartono said any measure to support the tobacco industry would have a massive public-health impact. The death toll from smoking-related illnesses in 2010, the last time the Health Ministry carried out such a census, was 190,000, and a surge in smoking-related ailments will stress an already overburdened public health infrastructure, Kartono warned.

“When a smoker gets sick, who will pay for the treatment? Certainly not Philip Morris,” he said.

He argued that most smokers would rely on the government’s BPJS Kesehatan health insurance program, which is already Rp 5 trillion ($369 million) in deficit despite only being launched earlier this year with Rp 21 trillion in state funding.

Targeting the young

“The meeting with Philip Morris will not help develop the nation and its people, but instead destroy the future of Indonesians,” said Hery Chariansyah, the executive director of Lentera Anak Indonesia, an NGO that advocates for child-friendly government policies.

He said tobacco companies in general tended to target young people, and that in Indonesia’s case this could have a devastating effect because the country’s demographic skews under 30.

“Any business-related agreement led by the government must prioritize the welfare of the people and the nation. And the meeting with Philip Morris definitely doesn’t do this,” Hery said.

He also noted that in 2009, 2010 and 2011, PMI had lobbied the House to prioritize deliberation of a contentious bill on the tobacco industry, on the pretext that it was meant to protect the interests of tobacco farmers.

With the planned signing of the $2 billion investment, and a trip to the United States last month by Indonesian legislators during which House Speaker Setya Novanto met with executives from PMI, Hery said it appeared almost certain that the bill would finally go to the House floor this time around.

Workers at risk

The tobacco lobby in Indonesia has long thwarted any attempt to more stringently regulate cigarette sales and advertising by claiming that those who would suffer the most would be the tens of thousands of Indonesians employed in cigarette factories.

The reality, however, is that greater investment in factory automation – including a transition from hand-rolled kretek production to a machine-rolled process at an H.M. Sampoerna factory in Karawang, West Java – is having the same effect of putting workers out of a job, Hery said.

According to filings, PMI’s operating profit from Asia plunged 31 percent to $3.2 billion in 2014 from the previous year, due to higher manufacturing costs, primarily in Indonesia.

With half a billion dollars in capital expenditure expected for H.M. Sampoerna, Hery warned of “even more tobacco industry workers getting fired.”

‘Blinded by cash’

Kartono of the NCTC said he was optimistic that Joko would reject PMI’s investment offer, but also warned that the president’s advisers could cloud his judgment.

“Hopefully Jokowi will not be blinded by the amount of cash being offered and fall into this investment trap set by Philip Morris,” he said.

A spokesman for the president did not respond to requests for comment from the Globe.

Related Article:

Johan Cruijff confirms lung cancer diagnosis

"The Recalibration of Awareness – Apr 20/21, 2012 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Old Energy, Recalibration Lectures, God / Creator, Religions/Spiritual systems  (Catholic Church, Priests/Nun’s, Worship, John Paul Pope, Women in the Church otherwise church will go, Current Pope won’t do it),  Middle East, Jews, Governments will change (Internet, Media, Democracies, Dictators, North Korea, Nations voted at once), Integrity (Businesses, Tobacco Companies, Bankers/ Financial Institutes, Pharmaceutical company to collapse),  Illuminati (Started in Greece, with Shipping, Financial markets, Stock markets, Pharmaceutical money (fund to build Africa, to develop)), Shift of Human Consciousness, (Old) Souls, Women, Masters to/already come back, Global Unity.... etc.) - (Text version)

" ... The Shift in Human Nature

You're starting to see integrity change. Awareness recalibrates integrity, and the Human Being who would sit there and take advantage of another Human Being in an old energy would never do it in a new energy. The reason? It will become intuitive, so this is a shift in Human Nature as well, for in the past you have assumed that people take advantage of people first and integrity comes later. That's just ordinary Human nature.

In the past, Human nature expressed within governments worked like this: If you were stronger than the other one, you simply conquered them. If you were strong, it was an invitation to conquer. If you were weak, it was an invitation to be conquered. No one even thought about it. It was the way of things. The bigger you could have your armies, the better they would do when you sent them out to conquer. That's not how you think today. Did you notice?

Any country that thinks this way today will not survive, for humanity has discovered that the world goes far better by putting things together instead of tearing them apart. The new energy puts the weak and strong together in ways that make sense and that have integrity. Take a look at what happened to some of the businesses in this great land (USA). Up to 30 years ago, when you started realizing some of them didn't have integrity, you eliminated them. What happened to the tobacco companies when you realized they were knowingly addicting your children? Today, they still sell their products to less-aware countries, but that will also change.

What did you do a few years ago when you realized that your bankers were actually selling you homes that they knew you couldn't pay for later? They were walking away, smiling greedily, not thinking about the heartbreak that was to follow when a life's dream would be lost. Dear American, you are in a recession. However, this is like when you prune a tree and cut back the branches. When the tree grows back, you've got control and the branches will grow bigger and stronger than they were before, without the greed factor. Then, if you don't like the way it grows back, you'll prune it again! I tell you this because awareness is now in control of big money. It's right before your eyes, what you're doing. But fear often rules. ..."