SBY remains silent on Bank Century indictment

Jakarta Post – President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono remains silent on Friday following a recent indictment in the Bank Century case that indicated the role of Vice President Boediono.

The scandal almost led to Yudhoyono getting impeached following lawmakers’ move in 2010 that initiated a legislative inquiry into the case.

“Later, I will tell you [later] when I have something to say,” presidential spokesman Julian Aldrin Pasha said on Friday at the Presidential Office.

Julian also refused to comment on whether Yudhoyono support Boediono, who was mentioned in Thursday’s indictment against former Bank Indonesia (BI) deputy governor Budi Mulya by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK).

The first court hearing in the country’s biggest corruption case has not indicated whether Yudhoyono had any role in approving a bank bailout in 2008 that led to massive state losses.

However, the indictment alleges that Budi and all of BI’s then board of governors involved in the bailout of Bank Century, including Boediono, had “collectively” committed violations.

Prosecutors have accused them of making illicit arrangements and orchestrating the eligibility of Bank Century to receive the bailout despite fraudulent actions carried out by its management and shareholders that had left the bank insolvent. The KPK also found that the bank should not have been salvaged as it posed no systemic risks to the banking sector if it had went under. [Click here for full article…]

Taking on a New Mindset to Achieve Gender Equality

Indonesia ranked 95th out of 135 countries in terms of gender equality, scoring far below its neighbor, the Philippines, which ranked fifth, a report by the World Economic Forum showed. (Bloomberg Photo/Dadang Tri)

Jakarta Globe -Although more and more Indonesian women have successfully climbed the career ladder, the fight for gender equality continues.

A recent report by the World Economic Forum showed that Indonesia ranked 95th out of 135 countries in terms of gender equality, scoring far below its neighbor, the Philippines, which ranked fifth.

The report also ranked Indonesia, the largest economy in Southeast Asia, at 103 out of 135 countries in terms of equal economic participation and opportunity.

“Women who hold a seat on the board of directors in listed companies in Indonesia are still in a minority,” Swida Alishjabana, the chief executive of Femina Group, said during an International Woman’s Day event in Jakarta on Friday.

Swida, who oversees the lifestyle media group, said men are generally promoted faster than women, because women tend to underestimate their skills, and have to consider more family life factors before deciding to take a top position.

“Most women are quick to dismiss the position because they feel unprepared, compared to men who generally jump to the opportunity without worrying about their skill-sets,” Swida said.

The Global Gender Gap Index report found that approximately 31 percent of Indonesian firms have female top managers. Women make up 10 percent of the boards of the directors in listed companies, while approximately 43 firms have female participation in their ownership.

A recent study by management consultants Accenture Indonesia found that while 72 percent of Indonesian men value experience more than education, the share of Indonesian women who think likewise is smaller at 50 percent.

“Most men are confident that they’ll have the opportunity to gain experience, while women may be less confident. So some women may rely more on education — where they can compete more equally,” said Anies Baswedan, the founder of Indonesia Mengajar, during a panel discussion at Friday’s event.

According to Neneng Goenadi, country managing director for Accenture Indonesia, some women have a tendency to limit themselves in their career choices. Women often assume that higher positions will mean less time for their household, she added. [Click her for full article…]

Indonesia’s economy growing steadily

Indonesian Ambassador Yusron Mahendra speaks at the Indonesian Business Forum on March 4 in Tokyo. | MINORU MATSUTANI

Japan Times – Indonesian politicians and business experts, along with their Japanese counterparts, discussed investment opportunities in Southeast Asia’s most populous country at a recent symposium in Tokyo.

The “Indonesian Business Forum,” was organized by the ASEAN-Japan Centre, the Indonesian Embassy and the Investment Coordinating Board of the Republic of Indonesia. Hundreds of attendees, mainly Japanese doing business in Indonesia, packed the venue.

The Indonesian economy has been steadily growing and Japanese investment into the country has been increasing rapidly. Japanese companies view the country not only as a production center, but also as its people gain wealth, as one of the largest markets.

Following a greeting by ASEAN-Japan Centre Secretary General Yoshikuni Onishi, Indonesian Ambassador to Japan Yusron Mahendra, newly appointed last month, made his remarks.

“Indonesia and Japan have enjoyed an amicable, long-term relationship. Our relationship has brought both countries enormous benefit,” said the ambassdor, a long-term resident of Japan who studied at Tsukuba University in Ibaraki Prefecture.

Following the ambassador’s speech, Indonesian Investment Coordinating Board Chairman Mahendra Siregar explained Indonesia’s economic conditions and prospects to the audience. [Click here for full article…]

Indonesia airport services firm looks abroad for growth

Reuters – Indonesia’s biggest privately owned airport services provider is seeking to expand in Southeast Asia, rather than at home, as airport infrastructure constraints stymie its growth in the world’s fifth-largest market for domestic air travel.

Cardig Aero Services Tbk PT aims to load luggage, cook food and clean cabins for airlinesaround the region after Indonesia’s government backed down from letting foreign companies expedite an increase in airport capacity.

“Our servicing capacity depends on airport capacity as well. As the rate of infrastructure development increases, it will be better for us,” Cardig Deputy Chief Executive Radianto Kusumo told Reuters.

“Our market share in Indonesia has reached 70 percent, so we are seeking growth outside of the country,” he added.

Industry data showed domestic passenger numbers jumped 35 percent in Indonesia in the past four years, boosted by a steadily expanding economy and a growing middle class.

Cardig, which operates at Indonesia’s 17 biggest airports, expects passenger numbers to rise at twice the growth rate of the economy by 2019.

Airport capacity, however, is straining to keep up with this pace of growth and prospects for expansion dimmed in December when the government decided not to let foreign companies buy majority stakes in ports and airports because of national security concerns. [Click here for full article…]

Eggs and Napoleon with Prabowo

Agence France-Presse/Getty Images
Presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto, a former military commander, joins hands with supporters during a forum in Jakarta on Jul. 15.

WSJ – Prabowo Subianto views himself as a pragmatist. If he sets a breakfast meeting at his ranch in the highlands overlooking Jakarta, he flies in guests by helicopter to avoid the day-long traffic jam circling the city.

The former Special Forces general and current presidential contender checks out visitors in a pavilion a few meters from the helipad. In local tradition, they’re invited into the main house only if they pass muster.

Inside, pictures of Prabowo in his Suharto-era military uniform vie with views overlooking his expansive hilly acreage. He loves animals; the stray mutt rescued by his staff and now ruler of the roost growls through the window in a territorial throw-down at the white-headed sea hawk perched outside.

He makes sure the batik-shirted staff gets the eggs right – “Scrambled? Sunny side up?” – and regrets the loss  of muscle mass after 55 (watch the carbs, eat protein; he’s 62). Admitting he’s a clear member of the elite 1%, he weighs in on how domestic control of economic resources and modern agriculture could uplift the half of the country he says has been left behind by the recent economic boom.

But Prabowo is, at heart, a military man, even if his career ended abruptly in 1998 after unrest ended the long rule of his former father-in-law, Suharto, and put him on a U.S. visa blacklist for alleged human-rights abuses, which he denies. His view of the world is shaped by a passion for history, strategy and tactics. He’ll quote Napoleon (“An army marches on its stomach”) to support his agriculture policy and paraphrase Goebbels (“If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it’’) to dismiss his critics.

His library overflows with volumes on military history. He’s now brushing up on his economics – though still angled on the sweep of events: “The Commanding Heights” and its Great Man subject, Keynes, and a dog-eared copy of Niall Ferguson’s “The Great Degeneration.” [Click here for full article…]

In Military We Trust? Strongman Nostalgia Runs Strong Among Indonesian Voters

A man passes a vender selling shirts featuring former Indonesian president Gen. Suharto in Solo, Central Java, on June 6, 2013. (JG Photo/Ali Lutfi)

Jakarta Globe – Indonesian voters still prefer a presidential or vice presidential candidate with a military background over a civilian, a recent poll concluded.

The National Survey Institute, or LSN, announced on Wednesday that three out of every five respondents in a recent poll said they preferred a candidate who had military experience.

“We asked the respondents whether they preferred a candidate with a civilian background or a military background, and 60 percent of them said they would vote for the one with a military background,” Umar S. Bakry, the LSN executive director, said in Jakarta.

He said the poll highlighted the positive leadership qualities associated by most Indonesians with military figures, including decisiveness, discipline and firmness.

Among the current batch of potential presidential or vice presidential candidates with a military background is Prabowo Subianto, the former commander of the Army Special Forces, or Kopassus, who is the chief patron of the Great Indonesia Movement Party (Gerindra) and one of the frontrunners for the July 9 poll.

Another is Wiranto, the chairman of the People’s Conscience Party (Hanura) and the last commander-in-chief of the armed forces under the late dictator Suharto.

Suharto himself was an Army general when he came to power in 1967.

The current president, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, was also an Army general, and the likely candidate from his Democratic Party is the former Army chief of staff, Pramono Edhie Wibowo. Pramono is also Yudhoyono’s brother-in-law.

Another former military commander vying for the Democrat ticket is Endriartono Sutarto.

The Indonesian polster Pol-Tracking Institute said that for many Indonesian voters, the ideal presidential ticket would feature a candidate with a military background running alongside one with a civilian background.

The presence of a military leader would provide the stability needed for the civilian leader to effect policy changes for the good of the country, said Agung Baskoro, a researcher with the Pol-Tracking Institute. [Click here for full article…]

Indonesia Candidate Backs Nimbler Economic Nationalism

Indonesian presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto of the Great Indonesia Movement Party gestures during a speech. Reuters

WSJ – A prominent but polarizing Suharto-era general running for president is pushing for a more relaxed dose of Indonesia’s controversial economic nationalism following the rollout of laws to pressure mining companies to invest billions in building refining capacity.

Prabowo Subianto said that he “strongly” believes the Southeast Asian country, the world’s fourth-most populous at about 240 million people, needs to keep more of the money from raw materials by processing them at home, which would help overcome poverty, but that compromise is needed.

“I’m considered a strong economic nationalist, but I’m also a realist,” Mr. Subianto said in an interview Wednesday as the country readies for months of elections that will lead to the first change in leadership in a decade. “It should not be done in a way that backfires on you. The goal is improved prosperity.”

Such goals have fueled policy from Japan to India to the European Union and more, but Indonesia’s history of corruption and mistrust of foreigners have earned a reputation as a minefield for investors caught on the wrong side of changing laws, murky ownership and uncertain enforcement of contracts.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s team eased regulations in his first five-year term, but took a harder line in the second. In January, the government banned the export of raw mineral ores and raised taxes on some concentrates to force mining companies to spend billions of dollars to build refining capacity and keep that lucrative work here. Indonesia is a major source of commodities such as nickel ore, bauxite, tin, copper and thermal coal.

Following worsening outcry from small local mining companies and international giants such as Freeport-McMoRan FCX -2.52% and Newmont Mining Corp. NEM -1.18% that the plans were economically unfeasible and would lead to job losses, officials said Sunday that Indonesia may reduce export duties “case by case” for companies “serious” about refining here. [Click here for full article…]

Vietnam, Indonesia aspire to raise trade to US$10b using incentives

Jakarta Post – Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has suggested that Vietnam and Indonesia create further incentives so that two-way trade can reach US$10 billion a year.

Talking to the Indonesian Assembly Speaker, Sidarto Danusubroto, in Hanoi yesterday, Dung said cooperation in trade, investment and tourism should be boosted.

He added that he was delighted at the development of the strategic partnership and hoped more could be done to fulfill signed agreements for mutual growth.

Vietnam and Indonesia should also promote cooperation in science and technology, culture, education, security and defence while also increasing exchanges between people, he said.

Dung suggested the two countries continue close co-ordination at regional and international forums, especially the United Nations, while working together to make more contributions to the development of Asean.

On the East Sea issue, he said he highly valued Indonesia’s six-point initiative on the matter.

He said he hoped all parties would implement the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC) in a strict manner, leading to the introduction of a Code of Conduct in the East Sea (COC) for peace, stability, co-operation and development in the region.

Danusubroto added that all issues must be settled through peaceful methods and dialogue to foster stability.

He said Vietnam and Indonesia had shared a long-standing traditional friendship which had been nurtured by their leaders. [Click here for full article…]

INCB Preaches Prevention and Treatment to Tackle Drugs in Latest Report

Indonesia is a regional leader in marijuana production, according to the latest report by the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB). (AFP Photo)

Jakarta Globe – A global shift from drug enforcement to prevention and treatment could save billions of dollars annually as national anti-narcotics agencies struggle to curb a growing supply of readily available but illegal drugs, a report from a drug-monitoring group suggests.

“Most studies have shown that for every dollar spent, good prevention programs can save governments up to $10 in later costs,” the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) said in a report released on Tuesday. “Therefore, governments’ investments in prevention, treatment and rehabilitation programs, and their regulatory control systems, must be maintained — even in times of financial austerity.”

The INCB released its 45th annual report on Tuesday, focusing on a two-pronged approach of increased prevention and treatment to combat drug abuse worldwide and highlighting the emergence of new, previously unknown synthetic derivatives designed to skirt domestic drug law. The organization, an “independent, quasi-judicial” monitoring body with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), argued that increased efforts to prevent drug addiction, as well as treat those already addicted to illegal substances could save governments money in the long run.

“If all independent drug users had received treatment in 2010, the cost of such treatment would have been an estimated $200 billion-$250 billion, or 0.3-0.4 percent of the global gross domestic product,” the report read. “Research findings clearly show that investment in treatment is cost-effective compared with the cost of untreated and continuing abuse.”

Increasing access to prevention and rehabilitation programs would not only lower costs but decrease new HIV infections, overdoses and visits to hospital emergency rooms, the report concluded. [Click here for full article…]

Ahok ready to run for vice president

Basuki Tjahaja Purnama: (JP/Jerry Adiguna)

Jakarta Post – Deputy Governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama, a Gerindra Party member, revealed on Tuesday that he had been touted as a potential vice presidential candidate for this year’s presidential election.

“During informal luncheons, my colleagues in Gerindra have said that I may be a potential running mate for [Gerindra chief patron] Pak Prabowo [Subianto],” Ahok said at City Hall, adding that “however, there was no formal decision yet”.

He acknowledged that Gerindra should focus on grabbing as many votes as possible during the legislative election, slated to be held on April 9.

“Without gaining more than 20 percent of the seats at the House of Representatives, how can Gerindra nominate its own presidential candidate?” he said.

Despite no formal arrangement from Gerindra, Ahok hinted that he would not refuse the offer.

“If I am asked by my party to run [for vice president], I’ll certainly accept the request. Whether it is to run for governor or president, I’m prepared to serve my party,” he cited.

When asked whom he would choose if both Governor Joko “Jokowi” Widodo and Prabowo ask him to be their running mate, he declined to answer and instead responded with a joke. [Click here for full article…]

Scholars, intellectuals endorse Prabowo’s bid

The Jakarta Globe – A group of university professors and intellectuals announced on Wednesday its collective endorsement of Gerindra Party presidential candidate and chief patron Prabowo Subianto, giving the retired army general another moral boost ahead of the upcoming presidential election. Former Bandung-based Padjadjaran University rector Yuyun Wirasasmita, who read the group’s endorsement during a gathering […]