Space tech provides Africa's first Islamic insurance for herders

Sapa-AFP, 01 april, 2014

Image by: ©Vladimir Wrangel/shutterstock.com

The son of a camel herder, Hassan Bashir knows how tough traditional life in Kenya's arid north is, where pastoralists rely on livestock herds surviving boom and bust cycles of drought.

But Bashir is also an astute entrepreneur, developing Africa's first livestock insurance scheme to make payouts compliant with Islamic law, by bringing together Muslim scholars and number-crunching agricultural experts using NASA weather satellites.

"I've come from the community, and I understand its needs," said Bashir, a sharp-suited businessman respectfully greeting elders dressed in traditional flowing robes in his hometown of Wajir, where goats and donkeys wander the dusty streets.

Bashir, 48, set up Takaful Insurance of Africa three years ago, which unlike ordinary insurance schemes prohibited by Islam, takes only a management fee from clients.

"It is a fair and ethical way to protect pastoralist's livestock assets from natural hazards," said Bashir, whose 80-year old father was one of the first to receive a payout this week for his herd of 50 cows.

Payments are assessed not according to deaths of individual animals as it would be impossible to provide proof, but according to an index drawn up by experts at the Nairobi-based International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), using satellites to measure vegetation coverage and thus the severity of drought.

The company is named after the Islamic concept of takaful, in which risks are shared among the community, rather than insurance where policy holders effectively gamble risks against the company.

Any surplus money after payments are made is distributed equally to remaining policy holders.

"It is a cooperative welfare basket for the community," Bashir added, who was inspired to switch from regular insurance broking to the Islamic system after "hot discussions" with his family who refused his "unethical" money.

"I wanted to do something to develop the people here," he said.

In 2011, fierce drought here in northeastern Kenya decimated herds with a devastating impact, and spiralled into famine in nearby war-torn Somalia.

Like elsewhere in the Horn of Africa, vast numbers of livestock are kept as a form of savings account. But these living investments face natural hazards.

"The animals are our lives," said 65-year old Abdi Aden Bulle, who lost some 40 of his 50 cows, and eight of his 10 camels in the 2011 drought, a key driver in his decision to join the scheme.

"We sell the animals to get food, to pay school fees, pay medical expenses."

Takaful made the first payouts this week in Wajir to 100 policyholders.

On the bottom end, one herder who had insured three goats and paid a premium of $5 six months ago, received a payout of $7.

At the higher end, a herder who paid some $940 to insure 50 cows received $720 in recompense, less than what he put in due to assessments of the severity of the drought suffered in that area.

Rains were several weeks late this year.

"It's been very, very dry," said herder Khalif Mohammed, who lost three of his 15 goats this year.

Once cash payouts are made, herders say they will use it to restock animals, pay school fees or daily domestic needs.

Animals hold enormous cultural and emotional value and underpin society here.

"People can be made almost crazy when they lose animals in the drought, they would be seen talking to themselves," said Wajir governor Ahmed Abdullahi.

But the economic potential is also huge: here in Wajir country, a scrubland region where most live in traditional huts, government estimates value livestock at some $550 million (400 million euros).

Across Kenya, the pastoral livestock sector is valued at around $5 billion (3.5 billion euros).

Organisers -- backed by some $6 million (4.5 million euros) from Australia, Britain and the European Commission -- hope it can strengthen the ability of fragile communities across the region to cope during droughts, and reduce reliance on food aid.

"It is an innovative product with the possibility to replicate it elsewhere in Kenya and other nations," Dominique Davoux from the European Commission said.

With few of the semi-nomadic people holding bank accounts, insurance premiums are even payable via mobile telephone money transfers using text messages.

Across the Horn of Africa, over 70 million people live in pastoralist areas, regional governments estimate, supplying some 90 percent of all meat.

The ILRI-designed system is already being taken up by insurers in other northern Kenyan regions and southern Ethiopia, totalling some 4,000 policyholders, with numbers growing.

Takaful is eyeing up possibilities in Somalia, especially the more stable self-declared Somaliland in the north.

But the scheme faces challenges ahead, as when drought hits, all members are paid.

The scheme will need to spread the risk by rolling it out to different areas to give it the size and geographical diversity needed "to create a stable insurance scheme", Bashir said.

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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.

Backed by the Net, Infoladies help rural women

Deutsche Welle, 13 June 2013

They bike hundreds of miles to bring advice and medicine to thousands in remote, impoverished villages. DW has honored the work of Bangladesh's 'Infoladies' with the 2013 Bobs online activism award.

Mahfuza Akter would have rather gone to university, but her family couldn't afford the fees. After finishing high school, the country girl had practically no chance of getting a job in her native district of Gaibandha in northern Bangladesh. But luck stroke in 2010 when she managed to get a job as a so-called "Infolady." For this extraordinary profession, the 25-year-old requires a bicycle, some high-tech devices and plenty of organizational skills.

Warm-hearted welcome

Equipped with a laptop, a digital camera and an Internet-connected mobile phone, Akter rides to towns within her community every day and offers a variety of ICT-based services as well as legal advice to villagers at their very doorstep. For instance, she helps people communicate with relatives via Skype, finds solutions to agricultural and development issues, and even assists young villagers in writing job application letters.

She also helps the elderly measure their daily blood sugar levels and visits pregnant women who want to manage their weight. If required, Akter even accompanies them to the local administration office to apply for financial assistance.

 Infoladies provide a variety of
services to people in remote villages

As few doctors ever travel to the regions InfoLadies regularly visit, the women are often the only form of medical advice available and when they get stuck on a case, they can call a team of experts ready to assist them wherever they may be.

For her services, Akter is often "paid more than the standard rate," she says. Sometimes customers even invite her to stay in for lunch. "I enable people to do things they would otherwise find difficult to do," she explains, adding that villagers often hold Infoladies in higher regard than even teachers or doctors.

Reaching out to women

Only about five percent of the South Asian country's population has access to the Internet. The government has set up rural information centers called "Pallitathya Kendra," but they are not used frequently.

"With the help of the Infoladies people living in remote areas now have the same sort of access to information and services as people living elsewhere," says Hossain Mosharrof, deputy director of Dnet, a Bangladeshi company specializing in social projects.

Dnet is the company that launched the InfoLady initiative in 2007. There are currently around 70 Infoladies working mainly with women and girls as well as with disabled and elderly people, connecting them to the rest of the community.

The fact they are all women is not a coincidence. "The project is about women helping one another and leading self-determined lives," adds Mosharrof, stressing the importance of mutual support, particularly in Muslim communities.

For Akter, becoming an Infolady wasn't easy. She had to undergo a strict assessment process to see if she had the skills required to work with different interest groups in the country side such as farmers and the unemployed. But after completing a 30-day training program she was ready to go. "My mother broke out in tears when I handed over my first pay check," she remembers. Today she makes around 140 US dollars a month, enough to put some money aside.

'A revolutionary project'

The Infoladies project won DW's 2013 The Bobs award for the best in online activism in the Global Media Forum category, which focuses on "the future of growth."

"It is a revolutionary project which closes social, cultural and digital gaps," said jury member Shahidul Alam. "Because of the Infoladies, many people now have access to their fundamental rights."

Dnet aims to have 12,000 Infoladies by 2017

The project founders are convinced of the iniative's potential. "The model is both financially and socially sustainable," says Mosharrof. Since the central Bangladesh Bank acknowledged the project as an innovative and viable model, the Infoladies have received "special conditions" for loans at local banks.

Dnet is seeking expand and increase the number of Infoladies to 12,000 by the year 2017. There are also plans to export the model to other countries such as Congo, Rwanda, Burundi and Sri Lanka.

Indonesia Earns UN Recognition for Cooperative Success

Jakarta Globe, Anastasia Winanti Riesardhy, November 24, 2012

Indonesia’s minister for cooperatives and small and medium enterprises,
Syarief Hasan. (JG Photo/Safir Makki) 

        

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Indonesia’s cooperative program was named one of the world’s most successful during a United Nations event in New York earlier this week, according to the Indonesian cooperative minister.

Indonesia, along with Malta, Panama and Trinidad and Tobago, was officially recognized during the closing ceremony of the UN’s International Year of Cooperatives on Nov. 19-20.

Officials from the four nations, including the Indonesian minister for cooperatives and small and medium enterprises, Syarief Hasan, were each given an opportunity to present at the event the strategies used in their respective countries that led to the prosperity of the programs.

“I was given the chance to describe programs we’ve been implementing that have led to Indonesia’s success in the cooperative and SME sector,” Syarief told journalists upon his return to Soekarno-Hatta Airport in Tangerang on Saturday.

“I gave examples of why Indonesia has succeeded. First, we have a large number of cooperatives. They [the audience] were surprised with the figure, especially when I mentioned that our cooperatives have a total of 33.6 million members.”

Syarief said in his presentation that Indonesia was currently home to 192,443 cooperatives, with 7,831 of them offering savings and loan services.

He added that evaluating the performances of cooperatives should not be based on their asset developments, or lack thereof.

“We should value cooperatives not based on their sales revenues, but on the amount of members and whether they feel the benefits of being members of the organizations. That’s the spirit,” Syarief said, reciting his own remarks made at the UN event.

He added that the Indonesian government supported the growth of cooperatives and SMEs since they helped reduce unemployment and poverty rates, which currently stand at 6.3 percent and 11.96 percent, respectively.

“They were surprised when I said our microfinance program can draw 7.8 million customers. ‘No wonder the poverty rate was reduced,’ they said.”

The UN designated 2012 as the International Year for Cooperatives.

Indonesia has organized a number of events and has launched some new programs this year in conjunction with the UN program, including training events for youth cooperatives, as well as seminars and conferences under the banner of “Indonesian Cooperatives Go Green.”

Indonesia’s House of Representatives also endorsed earlier this year the new cooperatives law, a revision of the 1992 version, which is expected to provide more protection to cooperative members and eradicate loan shark practices among cooperatives, among other things.

Suara Pembaruan

Planet, People and Profits: What It Means to Go Green

Jakarta Globe, Catriona Richards, May 15, 2012

Leaders in green businesses like Shinta Widjaja Kamdani of Kadin, left,
and Felia Salim of Bank BNI, second from right, attend the Sustainable
Business Awards ceremony last week. (JG Photo)

         

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Many corporate leaders believe that going green is an expensive business. They think they have to make money before they start spending money on the environment. But what these leaders don’t realize is that sustainable business is just good business.

The inaugural Indonesian Sustainable Business Awards, supported by the Jakarta Globe, were presented in South Jakarta on Wednesday to recognize the progress businesses here have made in developing sustainable initiatives.

The first of its kind in Indonesia, the awards program was established by international consultancy firms Climate Business and Global Initiatives, and was also supported by Indonesia’s Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin).

The winners, from small-medium enterprises to big businesses, showed that for them, making money does not have to cost the Earth. In fact, since implementing sustainability initiatives, many of these companies found that their businesses improved.

United Tractors, the heavy equipment unit of Astra International, emerged as the overall winner for its focus on the environment, corporate social responsibility and management of human resources.

“Our concept of sustainability begins with the company philosophy that United Tractors is here for Indonesia,” said sustainability director Edhie Sarwono.

For United Tractors, a well-managed sustainability division, along with outreach programs that communicate the company’s vision for a green future to its employees and host communities, has paid for itself in improving productivity.

So why is it that so many companies are reluctant to think long-term about the impact of their business on the Earth?

Green Sense and Cents

Speaking at the awards ceremony, Bank BNI Vice President Director Felia Salim said that for her company, going green just made sense.

“We are in the business of supporting sustainable businesses,” Felia said. “So for us, sustainability makes good business sense.”

As an intermediary for businesses, Bank BNI found that by implementing sustainable initiatives, it has been able to attract clients with similar goals. In this way, aiming toward sustainability has not cost the company, but brought it more business.

New clients may only be a short-term benefit, but in the long-term, all businesses will need to start thinking about sustainability sooner or later.

“Companies cannot afford to not look at sustainability,” said Shinta Widjaja Kamdani, Kadin’s chairwoman for the environment and climate change.

Shinta said that realistically it’s time for Indonesia to catch up with the rest of the world when it comes to sustainable business practice.

Since 1992, big businesses from around the world have shown their commitment to environmentally friendly practices through their membership of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development.

Speaking at the event, Tony Boatman from sustainability consultancy firm The Indela said that it is in every company’s interest to share their experience with green initiatives.

“We’re on the same planet, so it’s actually not a competitive thing. Business will need to transform,” he said.

Just last year, Kadin established the Indonesian Business Council for Sustainable Development, a body for Indonesian companies to share the best practices green initiatives.

“I think in Indonesia the idea of how to become a sustainable business is still in an early stage,” Shinta said. “There has to be a breakthrough if we want this happening faster.”

What Does Green Mean?

Going green basically means trying to reduce a business’ impact on the natural environment. The idea is to develop a sustainable business that makes the most of the resources at hand, without depleting those resources completely.

But it’s not just about the environment. A sustainable business thinks about its impact on employees and the community as well.

In business, this is referred to meeting the “triple bottom line,” comprised of planet, people and profits. The aim is to develop all three, without compromising one for another.

“You can be as green as you like, but if the workforce isn’t happy then business is going nowhere,” said Alex MacGillivray, executive director of Climate Business.

Planet, people and profits may sound like a lot for a company to focus on, but MacGillivray said that in fact, the three cannot be separated.

“You can’t sort of pull out the green stuff and say, ‘Well that’s something different,’ it’s very integrated into the way the company’s run,” he said. “Sustainable business is very much part of being a well-run company.”

Green It Like You Mean It

The first thing to know about going green in business is that you have to be sincerely committed to it.

Studies have shown that while most consumers are willing to pay a little extra for products that they know are environmentally friendly, they are not prepared to fork out if they don’t believe the hype.

When businesses treat sustainability initiatives as something to tack onto their portfolio, rather than a whole-hearted effort to clean up their act, consumers are unlikely to buy it.

“Sustainable businesses, if they do it well, will have an advantage,” MacGillivray said. “But if a company has a sustainability program because they think they should do, or because the CEO or the CEO’s wife, thinks it’s a good idea or because they’re following the latest trend, actually they could lose money.”

The key, he said, is good marketing to make sure that the consumer understands the company’s intentions in switching to a green product or business model.

Another important factor is to make sure that the cost of that change is not passed on to the consumer in the form of a green premium.

Consumers may say in surveys that they are willing to pay more, but when it comes to the crunch, many will still choose the cheaper option.

“If you really believe in this stuff then you have to find a way of making it affordable so that it’s not a dilemma for a customer,” MacGillivray said. “It has to be a no-brainer for the consumer so that they can do what they’d prefer to do, but they don’t have to decide on price.”

The real challenge for Indonesia is not just to produce green products, but to make them affordable for the country’s majority low-income population.

The growing middle class may be developing an awareness about making ecological sustainable choices, but for the rest of the country, price is always the clincher. Businesses that are serious about making an impact here will put low-income earners first by developing products and services that provide a future for this market.

“Markets move faster than the government can introduce regulations,” said Felia from BNI. “Markets and consumers also have to push.”

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RI`s finance to be leading if managed well : Princess Maxima

Antara News, Fri, April 6 2012

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Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Indonesian inclusive finance will be leading in the ASEAN region if all economic players and the government of this country can really work together on account of big potentials of its people and natural resources, Princess Maxima says.

Speaking in a special interview with four journalists at the Kimpinsky Hotel here on Thursday afternoon, Princess Maxima of the Netherlands who is also the UN Secretary General`s Special Advocate for Inclusive Finance for Development said Indonesia`s big population and its richness in natural resources were seen as the brightest prospect for the country.

After having a series of meetings with private sector representatives and development partners about the use of financial services by people and companies during her first visit to Indonesia, the Princess said this country had adopted a better approach on how to develop micro, small and medium-sized businesses which are also the backbone of the country`s economy.

During the 1998 economic crisis engulfing Indonesia and some other ASEAN countries, the small-and medium-scale businesses proved capable of surviving the burden of the crisis. Therefore, the step taken by the government of Indonesia to develop micro-, small-and medium-scale businesses was already on the good track, she said.

The princess also touched on the programmes of Malaysia which focus on deepening and expanding services, including to reach 20 percent of its population that has no access to financial services, and on financial education, consumer protection and improving the quality of loans to individuals and small businesses.

However, each country has its own policy on how to improve its inclusive finance depending on its geographical condition. Such policy applied by a country in a continental area will be different from that of archipelagic country like Indonesia.

In her capacity as Special Advocate for Inclusive Finance for Development for UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, she advised him about access to financial services, working at global level to ensure access to financial services for everyone. These efforts contribute particularly to the development of low income groups and small-and medium-sized enterprises.

In many countries it is no simple matter to open a savings or other bank account, borrow money or buy insurance. Since June 2011 Princess Maxima has also been Honorary Patron of the G20 Global Partnership for Financial Inclusion (GPFI).

Hence, financial inclusion would be on the agenda of the G20 Summit in Mexico in July 2012, she said.

During her stay, the Princess had a courtesy call on Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and a series of meetings with Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs M. Hatta Rajasa, Finance Minister Agus Martowardojo, Minister of National Development Planning Armida Alisjahbana, and Governor of Bank Indonesia Darmin Nasution.

Editor: B Kunto Wibisono

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Indonesian Acts in 'Giving Back to Society'

The New York Times, by Liz Gooch, March 18, 2012

SINGAPORE — “You have to give people the bait, not the fish,” said Tahir, the founder of a vast Indonesia-based business empire. “The fish, you can finish it in a week. But you give them the bait — the talent, the education — they can use this for their whole life.”

Mr Tahir, ST (Photo: Desmond Foo) 

It is this philosophy that has guided the philanthropic endeavors of Mr. Tahir, who goes by one name, and whom Forbes named the 15th-richest Indonesian last year. His beneficiaries include universities in Indonesia, Singapore, China and the United States.

Mr. Tahir, founder of the Mayapada Group, whose interests include banking, property, hospitals and media, has poured millions of dollars into universities, often in funding for needy students and most recently medical research.

While there is a growing culture of giving to higher education institutions in Asia, Mr. Tahir takes a more hands-on approach than many other donors.

Mr. Tahir, who came from a humble background, is now seeking to impart what he has learned on his way to becoming a tycoon whose net worth Forbes estimates at $1.4 billion. He is also the first Southeast Asian to sit on the board of trustees of the University of California, Berkeley.

Mr. Tahir, born in the Indonesian city of Surabaya in 1952, says his family struggled financially during his early years, when his parents ran a pedicab business, leasing the three-wheel vehicles out to drivers.

By the time Mr. Tahir had finished high school, his family could afford to send him to university, although his academic career would feature a few false starts. First, he tried civil engineering at a university in Surabaya but only lasted a semester. Then he went to Taiwan, where he had been accepted into medical school, but he only stayed a month before his father fell ill and he returned home.

At the age of 20, Mr. Tahir found his calling at the business school at Nanyang University in Singapore. Every month he would return to Surabaya with products from Singapore department stores — women’s clothing, children’s bicycles — and capitalize on Indonesians’ desire for imported goods to help fund his schooling.

He returned to the classroom at 35, completing a master’s degree in finance through an overseas program offered by Golden Gate University at Singapore Management University. Mr. Tahir said his belief in the importance of education had only grown over the years.

“The strength of a family, or the country or an organization or business entity does not just purely depend on the current management but more it depends on how you prepare the future generations to take over,” he said in an interview in Singapore.

Mr. Tahir, who serves as the deputy chairman on the board of trustees at Pancasila University in Jakarta, has donated about 30 billion rupiah, or $3.27 million, to 10 state universities in Indonesia, mostly in the form of scholarships for needy students.

He is planning to donate 10,000 laptops to underprivileged Indonesian high school students who rank in the top 5 percent academically, at a cost he estimates at $3 million.

“We see around us so many needy students,” he said. “They lost the opportunity to go to school. I think that inspired me. We have to pay more attention to education.”

Mr. Tahir said he “owed” Indonesia because the country had given him the “chance to make a living, to feed my children and now I have a little bit of achievement.”

“So taking from society, giving back to society — I think this is a very core principle of the Eastern values,” he said.

Mr. Tahir’s largest donation to date has been to the National University of Singapore. He donated 30 million Singapore dollars, or about $24 million, this year for medical research. Mr. Tahir, a Singapore permanent resident, said he had an “emotional relationship” with the university because it was akin to his alma mater and because his son is an alumnus. (Nanyang University merged with the University of Singapore to form the National University of Singapore.)

“The Singapore education system is good, so a lot of Indonesians come to study in Singapore from primary school up to university level,” he said.

Mr. Tahir has also made donations to several universities in China and two in the United States. Last year, Mr. Tahir, whose three daughters attended the University of California, Berkeley, donated $1 million to the Haas School of Business there to provide scholarships to international M.B.A. students primarily from Asia. Mr. Tahir was appointed to Berkeley’s board of trustees in 2007.

 “Dr. Tahir was an obvious choice for the U.C. Berkeley Foundation Board of Trustees because of his connection and passion for Berkeley and for his many personal strengths as an ambassador for the university in Asia,” Scott Biddy, vice chancellor for university relations at Berkeley, said by email.

Tan Chorh Chuan, president of the National University of Singapore, said the number of alumni making donations to the university had grown recently, with more than 6,700 alumni contributing in the 2010 financial year, a 9 percent increase from the previous year.

“While the culture of giving to universities here is not as well established as in the U.S., it is gaining traction in recent years,” Mr. Tan said in an e-mail. “We are working hard to engage our alumni, supporters and friends on the critical value and impact of N.U.S.’s work — in education, research and service — to Singapore, Asia and beyond.”

Chua Beng Hwee, executive director for the Council for Advancement and Support for Education Asia Pacific, said that while Asian philanthropists had long been donating to various causes, including higher education, the trend was increasing.

“With Asia growing to be a global center of wealth, coupled with increasing geographical mobility, we are witnessing an enhanced philanthropic awareness towards giving to higher education in Asian countries,” she said.

Ms. Chua said Asian institutions were becoming more competitive, placing greater emphasis on research, adopting a global outlook and climbing up the global varsity rankings.

“With more and more leaders and philanthropists, or their children, having studied at or having some form of relationship with Asian universities, it is no surprise that increasingly more are giving to these institutions,” she said. “An interesting observation is that the Asian way of giving is based very much on relationships and gratitude.”

Universities must work more closely with the private sector, Mr. Tahir said, so that business leaders are inspired to help. He added that public universities must also raise professors’ salaries to ensure that talented faculty members are not lured to the private sector.

He does not let governments off the hook, saying that countries like Indonesia must allocate more public funds to universities.

Mr. Tahir, who describes himself as a “devoted Christian,” said he considered his contribution as “a passion.”

“I like to see people get help,” he said. “I like to see people advance their study and become good in society and even better for the country.”

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BI to encourage wider public access to financial institutions

Antara News, Tue, November 29 2011

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Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Bank Indonesia (BI or the central bank) plans to issue inclusive financial regulations aimed at increasing the public`s access to financial institutions, the bank`s deputy governor, Muliaman D. Hadad, said here Monday.

Muliaman said as the country`s monetary authority, BI was mulling the issuance of regulations to encourage wider inclusion of the public in access to financial services, including the possibility of moving this access from one place to another with the help of technology and regulations.

Low public access to financial institutions was caused by various factors such as distance, knowledge and collateral.

As Indonesian banks were playing a role in controlling about 80 percent of the financial industry in the country they were expected to build financial services that can be enjoyed by wider segments of society, he said.

BI was prompted to try to increase the public`s access to financial services after a BI survey on households in 2010 had shown that 62 percent of Indonesian households had no savings at all.

Currently, there are five inclusive financial activities pillars and five major products that will be the object of inclusive financial activities, he said.

The five main activities were financial education, financial information mapping, intermediary facilities, distribution channels and regulatory support.

Muliaman also said to the "inclusion" of more people in access to financial institutions, was not only the task of the banking community but also of the government in build public attitudes and the banking system`s capacity or cabilities.

Inclusive Finance is a comprehensive activity that aims to eliminate all forms of barriers to public access in the use of financial services, supported by a variety of infrastructure, he said.

Editor: Suryanto

Govt urged to audit Freeport Indonesia

Antara News, Mon, October 31 2011

 He said not only Freeport workers but also local community members especially the six tribes living in the Timika region had experienced injustices and not enjoyed any welfare.

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• Freeport ready to settle its labor dispute in court

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - A non-governmental organization (NGO) here has urged the government to conduct an audit on PT Freeport Indonesia`s finances in connection with the company`s failure to care for the welfare of its employees and local community members.

"I recommend an immediate audit of PT Freeport Indonesia by a presidential team or a team from the House of Representatives (DPR) as this problem is very serious in view of the number of employees that reaches 22,000 excluding their family members that reach tens of thousands. My proposal is to set up a special committee to ensure the serious handling of the problem," the coordinator of the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras), Hariz Azhar, said here on Monday.

He said not only Freeport workers but also local community members especially the six tribes living in the Timika region had experienced injustices and not enjoyed any welfare.

Therefore, he said an "extraordinary" team needed to be set up to evaluate and find out why PT Freeport Indonesia had failed to improve its workers welfare and to meet its social corporate responsibility obligations.

He said the team was also expected to be able to determine why security authorities had failed to unveil the many shooting incidents that had happened in the region and caused insecurity among the local people as well as Freeport workers.

The team should also be able to ascertain whether Freeport had paid been paying its taxes properly considering that convicted tax man Gayus Tambunan had mentioned the company`s name in his case.

"That must be uncovered and the investigation must be continued," he said.

The Freeport case has happened many times raising a question if the government really wants to settle it, he said.

"Seeing the sheer number of its workers and their family members this is a national problem, a patriotism problem. So if the government wants to prove its nationalism, support the workers," he said.

He said if it is PT Freeport that the government supports it will be the government that is anti-nationalist," he said.

Kontras along with TLBHI and the Cooperation Forum of Papua Non-Governmental Organizations had earlier condemned PT Freeport for having used the police as a shield against its own workers.

It also criticized the company for refusing to sign a new collective labor agreement with the workers and also ridiculed the police for giving an ultimatum to the workers to stop their strike.

He said the strike was called because the workers wished to improve their welfare by changing provisions in the collective labor agreement including raising their wages, YLBHI deputy chairman Alvon Kurnia Palma said.

Based on Law Number 21 of 2000 labor unions have the right to conclude collective labor agreements with employers and Article 27 states labor unions are obliged to protect and defend their members from human rights violations and fight in their interest and the welfare of their members and families.

Alvon said the profits made by the company had been very huge while only a small part of it had been given to the workers. In view of that it was logical that the workers had asked for a raise.

The Mimika police chief, Deny Edward Siregar, had ordered the Freeport workers to stop their strike at Check Point I at Mile 28, Mile 27 and Gorong-gorong in Timika and open access so far blocked by the workers.

Editor: Heru

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An Overdue Warning on Misuse of Budgets

Jakarta Globe, August 05, 2010

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has issued the strongest warning to date against the increasing abuse of central and provincial budgets by regional politicians.

Regional governments can be important partners
in national development. But they need to accept
their responsibilities and fulfill the aspirations of
those who elected them.

Yesterday, the president gathered his ministers, governors and provincial legislative heads in Bogor in the third such event since he reassumed the presidency for a second term, and told them in no uncertain terms that he will not tolerate any misuse of national and regional budgets.

In his opening speech at the two-day meeting at the Bogor Palace, Yudhoyono warned that all budget usage would be evaluated by the government, mainly by the Presidential Working Unit for Supervision and Control (UKP4), and would be open for public scrutiny. Such transparency is long overdue and much needed.

The meeting focused on four topics — the macro economy, the state budget, regional budgets and budget acceleration. These are critical in accelerating economic growth and we applaud the president for displaying leadership on these issues.

Sadly, both the central and local legislators seem to have lost their way, using state funds for frivolous projects — often in the face of widespread public objection — instead of building infrastructure that will improve the lives of the people.

The state audit board recently found that most regional budgets have not been used to try to increase prosperity among the people, but rather to cater to the desires of officials for personal housing, offices and vehicles.

And the country has seen a steady stream of regional officials and legislators being dragged to justice, facing corruption charges linked to the misuse of budgets.

It is vitally important for the government at all levels to exercise fiscal discipline.

Understanding and the proper management of state budgets are important tools of economic growth and the enhancement of the quality of life across the country.

If used prudently and with maximum effect, state funds can drive growth and development across Indonesia, especially in rural and less-developed regions.

Such funds should be used to build roads, bridges, irrigation channels, schools, hospitals, ports, power plants and train stations.

They should be wisely used to fund projects that would benefit the people and help empower them, instead of being squandered on vanity projects.

Regional governments can be important partners in national development.

But they need to accept their responsibilities and fulfill the aspirations of those who elected them.

The president also asked his ministers and local administrations to react quickly to any abnormal hike in the price of essentials in the run-up to the Ramadan fasting month, a season traditionally marked by high consumption and skyrocketing prices.

One of the essences of good government is a synergy between the central government and regional administrations.

The two-day forum initiated by the president is an important start to this process.

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