MONDAY APRIL 17, 2017 | TWENTY-FOUR PAGES VOL. 34 NO.
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ELECTION
Gov candidates get notes on
evictions from LBH Jakarta p4
In harmony: A Christian puts decorated eggs in plastic cups before they are handed out at the Car Free Day event in Boyolali, Central Java,
on Sunday. The Allah Immanuel Church congregation distributed 2017 Easter eggs to passersby as a symbol of social harmony and unity.
EASTER CELEBRATION
Cling to faith amid wars and hatred: Pope
Associated Press
VATICAN CITY/CAIRO
In an impromptu Easter Sun-
day speech, Pope Francis on Sun-
day encouraged people to hold fast
in their “fearful hearts” to faith
despite all the wars, sickness and
hatred in the world, acknowledg-
ing that many wonder where God
is amid so much evil and suffering.
Tens of thousands of faithful
braved heavy security checks —
and, later, a brief downpour from
what had been sunny skies — to
enter St. Peter’s Square where
Francis celebrated Mass on the
steps leading to St. Peter’s Basilica.
Traditionally, the pope gives
no homily during the late-morn-
ing Easter Mass, saving his re-
flections for the “Urbi et Orbi”
a solemn message delivered “to
the city and to the world” — at
noon from the central balcony of
St. Peter’s Basilica.
But Francis broke with that
tradition, giving an off-the-cuff
homily during Mass to try to an-
ANTITRUST LEGISLATION
Competition law revision raises concerns
Viriya P. Singgih
THE JAKARTA POST/JAKARTA
Since humankind first began to
trade, producers and consumers
have always sat at different sides
of the table: the former looking
for ways to maximize profit, the
latter seeking to buy quality prod-
ucts at an affordable price.
In the modern world, efforts to
promote fair business competi-
tion are unlikely to run smoothly
in the absence of strong, credible
anti-monopoly watchdogs that
work to accommodate the inter-
ests of both parties.
Thus, when lawmakers sealed
last week a collective endorse-
ment to upgrade the authority of
the Business Competition Super-
visory Commission (KPPU), criti-
cism began to emerge, particularly
from businesses, given the institu-
tion’s controversial track record in
the area of business supervision.
On Thursday, the House of Rep-
resentatives’ Legislation Body
(Baleg) completed the harmoni-
zation process of the draft revision
for Law No. 5/1999 on monopo-
lies and unfair business competi-
tion, during which representatives
from all political parties agreed to
Inside
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swer what he described as a nag-
ging question for many faithful:
why are there so many tragedies
and wars in the world if Jesus
has risen from the dead, a belief
Christians celebrate each Easter.
“The Church never ceases to
say, faced with our defeats, our
closed and fearful hearts, ‘stop,
the Lord is risen.’ But if the Lord
is risen, how come these things
happen?” Francis said, citing ac-
cidents, illnesses, human traffick-
ing, revenge and hatred, among
other suffering.
“Nobody asks us: ‘But, are you
happy with all that’s happening in
the world?’ Are you willing to go
forward,’ carrying a cross, as Jesus
did?” Francis asked the faithful.
Francis gestured toward the
potted hyacinths, tulips and daf-
fodils, as well as bouquets of pink
roses, arranged in neat rows on
the steps leading to the imposing
church.
Easter “isn’t a party with lots
of flowers. This is pretty, but it’s
not this, it’s more than this,” Fran-
endorse the bill at the House’s up-
coming plenary meeting.
The revision of the law, expect-
ed to be completed this year, is
set to address several clauses that
will equip the KPPU with expand-
ed authority in its efforts to tackle
unfair business practices, includ-
ing the authority to seek support
from the National Police to sum-
mon business players, witnesses
or experts related to the former’s
investigations into alleged viola-
tions of the law.
The draft law revision, a copy of
which has been obtained by The
Jakarta Post, also stipulates that
fines for business players convict-
ed of unfair practices range from
5 to 30 percent of their sales val-
ue throughout the period of viola-
tions. The prevailing law sets the
maximum penalty at Rp 25 billion
(US$1.88 million).
“If the KPPU has the author-
ity to investigate, prosecute and
even impose fines on business
players, there is a big possibility
that abuses of power will occur
in the future,” Sutrisno Iwanto-
no, an Indonesian Employers As-
sociation (Apindo) executive in
charge of public policy, said over
the weekend.
WORLD | p11
Turks vote on expanding
Erdogan’s power
BADMINTON
T
Time for Praveen, Debby
tto take lead: Coach p9
cis said, describing the day as an
occasion to ponder the mystery
of faith.
Francis said Easter brings “a
sign in the midst of so many ca-
lamities: a sense of looking be-
yond, of saying don’t look to a
wall, there’s a horizon, there’s life,
there is joy.”
Meanwhile, Easter Mass cele-
brations were held amid fear and
grief in churches across Egypt af-
ter twin bombs killed 45 people in
churches in Alexandria and Tanta
earlier this week on Palm Sunday.
At least eight security agents
could be seen surrounding Cop-
tic Christian Pope Tawadros II
as he entered St. Mark’s Cathe-
dral in Cairo, the seat of the Cop-
tic Orthodox Pope, where he lead
prayers with several ministers in
attendance.
Pope Tawadros had earlier an-
nounced during his Good Friday
sermon that, as mourning for
the attack’s victims was ongoing,
the celebratory aspects of Eas-
ter would be canceled this year,
“As a result, potential investors
will be reluctant to bring in their
money. Who wants to risk their
assets in a business environment
prone to abuses of power?”
Sutrisno’s concerns are not
baseless.
In 2008, the Corruption Eradi-
cation Commission (KPK) inves-
tigators caught then KPPU mem-
ber Muhammad Iqbal receiving
Rp 500 million in cash from a
company executive whose firm
had been declared not guilty in a
dispute handled by the body.
A year later, the Jakarta cor-
ruption court sentenced Iqbal to
four-and-a-half years in prison
for accepting a bribe.
Democratic Party lawmaker
Azam Asman Natawijana, who
leads a House working commit-
tee assigned to deliberate the law
revision, said the current draft
allowed the KPPU to undertake
joint search and seizure opera-
tions with the police.
Chris Kanter, an advisory board
member of the Indonesian Cham-
ber of Commerce and Industry
(Kadin), said the extension of the
KPPU’s authority was actually
needed because the body had long
been recognized as a toothless tiger.
BUSINESS | p13
State-owned banks
in quandary over LRT
ART ACTIVISM
Empowerment
through the arts p23
Antara/Aloysius Jarot Nugroho
including the Easter morning
reception.
Egypt’s Interior Ministry
heightened security measures
on the day, creating 400-meter
radius security cordons around
churches barring vehicles. Ad-
ditionally, bomb squads scanned
churches across the country for
suspicious objects, according to
an official who spoke on the con-
dition of anonymity as he was not
allowed to brief the media.
On last Sunday, a suicide
bomber was able to make his way
to the front rows of a church in
the Nile Delta City of Tanta be-
fore blowing himself up. While in
the Mediterranean city of Alex-
andria, another attacker detonat-
ed his suicide vest at the church
gate’s metal detector after being
stopped by security.
The Islamic State group
claimed responsibility for the
bombings after vowing in an ear-
lier statement to continue target-
ing the country’s Coptic Christian
minority.
“However, with such great
power, the KPPU must also en-
sure its credibility and capability
to prevent feared abuses of pow-
er,” Chris said.
Earlier in February, the KPPU
announced that Indonesia’s mo-
torcycle manufacturing giants
PT Yamaha Indonesia Motor
Manufacturing (YIMM) and PT
Astra Honda Motor (AHM) had
engaged in cartel practices in the
sales of automatic 110 cc and 125
cc scooters by marking up the ve-
hicles’ prices.
The KPPU’s decision in the case
has been questioned by many, in-
cluding Apindo’s Sutrisno. He has
voiced concerns over the com-
mission’s arguments which refer
to an alleged meeting of the com-
panies’ high ranking officials at a
golf course and alleged email ex-
changes between both sides.
Separately, KPPU member
Muhammad Nawir Messi said
the public should not be anxious
about the proposed revision, say-
ing that there is still room to chal-
lenge the commission’s verdict at
district courts.
“The appeal mechanism will
remain. There’s nothing to worry
about,” he said.
Ahok
returns
to office,
for now
Ivany Atina Arbi
and Indra Budiari
THE JAKARTA POST/JAKARTA
It has been one month since
Jakarta Governor Basuki “Ahok”
Tjahaja Purnama left City Hall
to campaign for reelection in the
capital’s runoff election and to
defend himself in a blasphemy
trial by taking an official leave
of absence.
Sunday marked the first full
day Ahok reassumed his position
from acting governor Sumarsono.
Yet, Ahok’s tenure as governor
might be short-lived as the pros-
ecutors at his blasphemy case are
scheduled to read their sentence
demand on April 20, the day after
voting day.
If the prosecutors decide to
charge Ahok with religious blas-
phemy of Article 156a of the In-
donesian Criminal Code (KUHP),
which carries a maximum sen-
tence of five years imprisonment,
then Ahok would be temporarily
dismissed until the judges reach a
verdict, as mandated by the 2014
law on regional administration.
“Because Article 156a carries a
maximum five-year sentence, the
law will require him to be tempo-
rarily dismissed from his seat,”
Chudry Sitompul, a law expert
from the University of Indonesia,
told The Jakarta Post.
Article 83, Item 1 of the Region-
al Administration Law stipulates
that a regional head should be dis-
missed temporarily without rec-
ommendation from the Regional
Legislative Council (DPRD) if he
or she faces criminal charges with
a minimum prison sentence of
five years.
However, Ahok could still hold
his position if he is charged under
Article 156, which only carries a
maximum sentence of four years
prison time, according to Chudry.
Home Minister Tjahjo Kumo-
lo previously said the decision on
whether Ahok would be tempo-
rarily dismissed or not would have
to wait until the sentence demand
reading by the prosecutors.
Should Ahok not be dismissed,
he would serve as the governor
of Jakarta for at least another six
months, even if he loses the gu-
bernatorial race to his rival, Anies
Baswedan.
Various surveys released just
days prior to the upcoming Jakar-
ta gubernatorial runoff election
on April 19 have indicated that
the race is one of the tightest in
the capital’s history, with no clear
frontrunner.
Four out of the five surveys re-
leased last week showed Anies
Baswedan to be in the lead, albeit
with small margins, with a recent
survey by Indikator Politik Indo-
nesia showing the margin to be as
small as 0.8 percent.
The only survey that showed
Ahok to be winning was released
by Charta Politika Indonesia.
He’s back: Acting Jakarta governor Sumarsono (left to right), non-
active governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama and deputy gover-
nor Djarot Saiful Hidayat shake hands during a handover ceremony
at City Hall in Jakarta on Saturday. The ceremony marked Ahok’s
resumption of the governorship after concluding his leave for the
election campaign.
Ahok resumes governor
seat on Sunday
Prosecutors’ demand to
determine whether Ahok
to be dismissed or not
According to that survey, Ahok
has an electability rating of 47.3
percent, compared to 44.8 per-
cent held by Anies.
The survey, which involved 782
respondents across Jakarta from
April 7 to 12, showed that while
the electability of Ahok-Djarot
plummeted from November 2016
to January, it rose again from Feb-
ruary to April.
On Sunday, Ahok spent his first
day back as governor attending a
discussion on the revitalization of
the Kota Tua area in West Jakar-
ta, one of his signature projects as
governor.
During the discussion, Ahok
declared he would continue the
revitalization of the area as well as
nearby historic sites for the next
six months of his leadership.
The sites include Luar Batang
Mosque and the Sunda Kelapa
Port in North Jakarta.
Among the actions he aid he
would take to beautify the Kota
Tua area were fixing and wid-
ening the sidewalks from Kota
Tua to several tourism spots sur-
rounding it, including the Bahari
Museum in North Jakarta.
“Hundreds of tourists will vis-
it Kota Tua if we take good care
of it. Therefore, we have to pro-
vide tourists with other nice tour-
ism spots, like Sunda Kelapa Port,
the Bahari Museum and the Luar
Batang Mosque as well as proper
sidewalks,” Ahok said at the Fine
Arts and Ceramics Museum in
Kota Tua. “We also have to ar-
range the houses there.”
The governor said he felt
blessed to have six months to
“beautify the city.”
“[If citizens do not trust me to
lead the city again] we still have
time, six months to complete [this
mission],” Ahok said. “I am sure
that the foundation we have cre-
ated is good.”
After declaring to revamp the
Mbah Priok memorial site in Tan-
jung Priok, North Jakarta, as it was
designated as a cultural heritage
site in March, the governor also
planned to renovate Luar Batang
Mosque. “I want the mosque
to have a huge alun-alun [town
square] or field,” he previously said.
The governor also mentioned
the controversial Jakarta Bay rec-
lamation project in the discussion,
saying that it would continue de-
spite protests from fisherfolk.
Ahok said there would be a
10-hectare man-made island ded-
icated to fisherfolk, in which the
city administration would build
low-cost apartments to accom-
modate the fisherfolk as well as
provide moorings for their boats.
Antara/Aprillio Akbar
2 | HEADLINES MONDAY April 17, 2017

Pence says North Korean JAKARTA ELECTION

PPP torn between

missile test ‘provocation’
The Associated Press
SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA
A North Korean medium-range
missile exploded seconds after it
was launched on Sunday, United
States officials said, a high-profile
failure that came hours before the
US vice president arrived in South
Korea, and as an American aircraft
supercarrier approaches the Ko-
rean Peninsula in a show of force.
The US had good intelligence
both before and after the launch,
said a White House foreign policy
adviser traveling with Vice Presi-
dent Mike Pence, who arrived in
Seoul in the afternoon to start a
10-day trip to Asia.
No planned response is ex-
pected from the Trump adminis-
tration because the official, who
spoke on condition of anonym-
ity to discuss the administra-
tion’s initial understanding of the
launch, said there was no need for
the US to reinforce the failure.
The official said that had it
been a nuclear test, “other actions
would have been taken by the US.”
Responding to the missile test,
Pence says North Korea’s “provo-
cation” is another reminder of the
risks that US and South Korean
service members face every day
“in the defense of the freedom of
the people of South Korea and the
defense of America in this part of
the world.”
Pence said Sunday at a fellow-
ship dinner at US Army Garrison
Yongsan in Seoul that the will-
ingness of military members “to
stand firm without fear inspires
the nation and inspires the world.”
The vice president spoke at
a dinner after attending Easter
church services with service mem-
bers at the garrison. He arrived in
South Korea shortly after a failed
missile launch by the North that
surrounded the birth anniversary
of North Korea’s late founder.
Meanwhile, China’s official Xi-
nhua News Agency says China’s
top diplomat, Yang Jiechi, and
US Secretary of State Rex Tiller-
son discussed the situation on the
Korean Peninsula in a phone call
Sunday amid escalating tensions
in the region.
It was unclear exactly when the
conversation took place on Sun-
day, but Xinhua’s report of the
call came out after a failed mis-
sile launch by North Korea. The
report included no further details
Failure to launch: A South Korean man watches a TV showing file footage of a North Korean ballistic
missile launch, at Seoul Railway Station on Sunday. A North Korean missile exploded during its launch
on Sunday from a base on the country’s east coast, United States and South Korean officials have said, a
high-profile failure that comes as a powerful US aircraft carrier approaches the Korean Peninsula in a
show of force.
North Korean medium-
range missile exploded
seconds after it launched
on Sunday
Vice President Mike
Pence says test is
provocation
on the call between State Coun-
cilor Yang and Tillerson. China’s
foreign ministry did not imme-
diately respond to a request for
comment.
China, North Korea’s most
important ally and key provider
of food and fuel aid, has sought
to cool tensions over Pyong-
yang’s nuclear weapons and mis-
sile programs, repeatedly calling
for dialogue.
US officials say the Trump ad-
ministration’s emphasis will be
on increasing pressure on Pyong-
yang with the help of China
North Korea has conducted
five nuclear tests, including two
last year. Recent satellite imagery
suggests the country could con-
duct another underground nucle-
ar test at any time.
The White House believes that
Sunday’s test involved a medium-
range ballistic missile that failed
within 4 to 5 seconds after launch,
and that it did not involve an in-
tercontinental ballistic missile,
the adviser said.
The North regularly launches
short-range missiles, but is also
developing mid-range and long-
range missiles meant to target US
troops in Asia and, eventually, the
US mainland.
The failed launch will sting in
Pyongyang because it came a day
after one of the biggest North Ko-
rean propaganda events of the
year — celebrations of the 105th
birthday of late North Korea
founder Kim Il-sung, the current
leader’s grandfather.
President Donald Trump was
uncharacteristically quiet about
the failed launch, which was at-
tempted from the east coast city
of Sinpo. In a statement, Defense
Secretary Jim Mattis said Trump
and his military team “are aware
of North Korea’s most recent un-
successful missile launch. The
president has no further com-
ment.”
North Korea’s ultimate goal
is to have a full array of nuclear-
tipped missiles in response to
what Pyongyang says is hostility
by Washington and Seoul meant
to topple its government. North
AP/Ahn Young-joon
Korea is thought to have a small
arsenal of atomic bombs and an
impressive array of short- and
medium-range missiles.
Many outside analysts believe
that North Korea has not yet
mastered the technology to build
warheads small enough to place
on long-range missiles, though
some civilian experts say it can al-
ready build nuclear-tipped short-
er range missiles that have South
Korea and Japan within its strik-
ing range.
The US Pacific Command said
in a statement that Sunday’s mis-
sile exploded on launch. South
Korea’s Defense Ministry said it
was analyzing exactly how the
North Korean launch failed.
In Seoul, South Korea’s presi-
dential office convened a national
security council meeting to exam-
ine security postures.
Always high animosity has ris-
en on the Korean Peninsula in re-
cent months, as the US and South
Korea conduct annual war games
that North Korea claims are inva-
sion preparation and the North
prepared for Saturday’s anniver-
sary celebrations. A US aircraft
carrier, the USS Carl Vinson, is
heading to waters off Korea in a
show of force.
ideology, expediency
Nurul Fitri Ramadhani and
Margareth S. Aritonang
THE JAKARTA POST/JAKARTA
The United Development Par-
ty (PPP) — the country’s oldest
Islamic party — was supposed to
publicly declare its support for
Jakarta Governor Basuki “Ahok”
Tjahaja Purnama, the only Chris-
tian candidate in the Jakarta gu-
bernatorial race, last month.
However, the party, led by Mu-
hammad Romahurmuziy, canceled
the March 26 event in the eleventh
hour, citing “technical issues.”
Not until April 13, six days be-
fore voting day, did the party’s Ja-
karta chapter finally make a for-
mal declaration of its support for
Ahok, who has been struggling to
contain the rising religious senti-
ment set against him.
The move is a boon for Ahok
and his running mate, Djarot
Saiful Hidayat, but probably not
for PPP, which has suffered hu-
miliating defeats in previous elec-
tions and is now beset with inter-
nal strife.
For a party that has formally
stated Islam as its ideology and
has recently proposed the inclu-
sion of Islamic law in the Crimi-
nal Code to boost its Islamic cre-
dentials, supporting a Christian
politician who is also accused of
insulting the Quran may strike
many as counterintuitive.
However, the decision seems to
be driven mainly by political cal-
culations, rather than ideology.
The PPP is part of the rul-
ing coalition led by the Indone-
sian Democratic Party of Strug-
gle (PDI-P), which backed Ahok.
In the first round, the PPP sup-
ported Agus Harimurti Yudhoy-
ono, who failed to get to the run-
off. It now has to choose between
Ahok and Anies Baswedan, who is
backed by the opposition.
The PPP’s move is therefore
widely seen as an attempt by
the party to keep its seats in the
Cabinet.
Moreover, Romahurmuzy’s le-
gitimacy as party leader could be on
the line as a PPP faction led by Djan
Faridz supported Ahok first. The
Home Ministry may finally follow
a recent court ruling declaring Djan
as the legitimate PPP chairman.
It was not an easy decision.
Two PPP officials, who declined
to be named due to the sensitiv-
ity of the issue, told The Jakarta
Post that the Ahok camp had long
asked the party to make a formal
declaration of support, but the
party refused to do so, fearing it
would tarnish its image.
For weeks, the party lobbied
the Ahok camp to accept its pro-
posal: the party’s Jakarta chapter
will make the formal declaration,
but the central board will be ex-
empted from doing the same.
The Ahok camp finally accept-
ed the proposal.
“There is no need for the cen-
tral board to make a formal dec-
laration, but we ensure them
that we are committed to mobi-
lizing the political machines to
help Ahok-Djarot win,” one of the
sources said.
“We need to maintain our im-
age as an Islamic party. We have
to keep our supporters in the
grassroots who do not want the
party to support Ahok.”
The PPP’s move to endorse
Ahok triggered protests from sev-
eral senior party members and
party executives in the regions
who believe the party had made
the wrong decision.
“Party leaders have violated
the party’s constitution. That’s
not what an Islamic party is sup-
posed to do,” PPP High Coun-
cil member and senior politi-
cian Bachtiar Chamsyah told
the Post on Sunday, adding that
some party members have pro-
posed an extraordinary meet-
ing to oust Romahurmuziy and
Djan Fariz.
Indobarometer analyst M. Qo-
dari said a third faction led by for-
mer members of the defunct In-
donesian Islamic Brotherhood
(Parmusi) would emerge to chal-
lenge Romi and Djan, who are
closer to Nahdlatul Ulama (NU).
“While Romahurmuziy and
Djan are competing for legitima-
cy, a small camp of Parmusi is us-
ing the political momentum to re-
emerge,” he told the Post.
The National Awakening Party
(PKB), a Muslim-based party that
is also part of the ruling coalition,
has also expressed its support for
Ahok, but the PKB has long been
known as an inclusive party.
The National Mandate Party
(PAN), another Muslim-based par-
ty, is the only member of the rul-
ing coalition to join the opposition
camp in the gubernatorial race.

POLITICS CYCLING

When Jokowi’s flattery of
Saudi king strays off-key
The Jakarta Post
JAKARTA
Amid the simmering sectar-
ian tension in the Jakarta elec-
tion that has radicalized conser-
vative Muslims, President Joko
“Jokowi” Widodo has found him-
self in an uncomfortable position.
While still aiming to maintain
support from mainstream Mus-
lim groups in the country, he finds
his support for incumbent Jakar-
ta Governor Basuki “Ahok” Tja-
haja Purnama, who has been ac-
cused of blasphemy, antagonizing
the groups.
As the groups’ political move-
ment grows, Jokowi has become
concerned about the activism
calling people to separate religion
and politics and uphold the coun-
try’s pluralism.
Only to withdraw the state-
ment weeks later, saying that his
only concern was national unity.
The Indonesian Democratic
Party of Struggle (PDI-P) politi-
cian made another flip-flop about
Islamic conservatism last week,
by criticizing the small investment
made by Saudi King Salman bin
Abdulaziz Al Saud during his his-
toric visit to the country recently.
“I even held up the umbrella for
the King, but we only got a small
amount. I am a little bit disap-
pointed, just a little,” the President
quipped during his speech at Bun-
tet Islamic Boarding School in Ci-
rebon, West Java, on Thursday.
On Saturday, he called his sour
comments on the king’s visit
“a joke.”
“Why can’t we get a big invest-
ment? It’s because our invest-
ment climate and investment rat-
ings are low. Not to mention legal
certainty, which needs to be im-
WEATHER FORECAST: APRIL 17, 2017
Sunny Banda Aceh
Rainy 23 - 33 °C
Medan
Cloudy
23 - 33 °C
Pekanbaru
Source:
Meteorology, Climatology
And Geophysics Agency
24 - 26 °C
proved,” he said while inaugurat-
ing KH Hasyim Asy’ari mosque in
Jakarta, turning the criticisms of
Saudi Arabia into domestic policy
issues.
Despite the flip-flop in his
statements being potentially un-
intentional, critics say the Presi-
dent might want to distance him-
self from the growing Islamic
conservatism in the country.
Robby Habiba Absor, a Muslim
Scholar from State Islamic Univer-
sity (UIN) Sunan Kalijaga Yogya-
karta said the President’s remarks
might indicate his discontent to-
ward local conservative groups.
“He speaks clearly about his
disappointment. This could be
perceived as criticism toward
conservative Muslim groups in
Indonesia, which adore and ad-
mire Saudi Arabia,” he said.
Broto Wardoyo, international
relations expert of the University
of Indonesia, said Jokowi’s com-
ments were largely harmless to
conservative groups, let alone the
relation to the kingdom.
“The comments convey the
President’s discontent of his own
administration, which fails to at-
tract investments. The criticisms
are mostly of government offi-
cials,” he said.
The political expert from In-
donesian Institute of Sciences
(LIPI), Siti Zuhro, said Jokowi’s
statement might have been just a
joke as he clarified.
“It might have been just a joke,
but I can understand if he’s dis-
appointed by learning Saudi’s in-
vestment in the country was low-
er than in China,” Siti added.
She further said that Jokowi’s
disappointment was purely an eco-
nomic matter, and it was not relat-
ed to Muslim communities. (rdi)
Batam Semarang
24 - 32 °C 25 - 32 °C
Jakarta Yogyakarta
26 - 32 °C 24 - 32 °C
Bandung Surabaya
21 - 29 °C 25 - 32 °C
Tour de Lombok Mandalika set to join UCI calendar
Panca Nugraha In the four-day tour, Australian
THE JAKARTA POST/MATARAM Nathan Earl James of Ukyo Cy-
cling Team nailed the overall win-
Following its successful de- ner’s position after clocking a total
but, the Tour de Lombok Manda- time of 12:14:03. James’ teammate,
lika (TdLM) international cycling Benjamin Prades of Spain came
race looks to have a bright future second, while Italian Davide Re-
as it is set to be listed on the Union bellin of Kuwait Cartucho was the
Cycliste Internationale’s (UCI) third overall finisher.
annual calendar of events. Sondi said the tour might still
The four-stage 2017 tour, rat- be rated 2.2, but its track offered
ed a 2.2 stage race, the lowest in new and interesting things that
the UCI’s road-racing category, gave thrills to the participants,
wrapped up on Sunday after fin- who came from 21 countries
ishing a total of 485 kilometers around the world, including the
of track that offered contestants Netherlands and France.
the beautiful scenery of Lombok, Ni Putu Gemet Gayatri, an of-
West Nusa Tenggara. ficial with the Tourism Minis-
“We held such a tour many try, said the success of the tour
years ago. But, starting in 2017, was a perfect start to developing
we’re setting the race as an annu- sports tourism on the island of
al event, under the name of Tour Lombok.
de Lombok Mandalika,” said race “The ministry will give full
director Sondi Sampurno of the support in promoting TdLM as
event, which carried an Rp 800 an annual race, as such an event
million (US$60,200) purse. will be a powerful magnet to at-
Antara/Ahmad Subaidi
Last stage: Cyclists race to finish the fourth stage of the Tour de
Lombok Mandalika in Mataram, West Nusa Tenggara, on Sunday.
Malaysian Mohd Sahrul Mat Amin won the final stage of 112 kilom-
eters.
Denpasar Makassar Ternate
24 - 33 °C 24 - 32 °C 25 - 30 °C
Samarinda Manado Ambon
24 - 29 °C 23 - 32 °C 23 - 32 °C
Palangkaraya Gorontalo Jayapura
24 - 33 °C 25 - 33 °C 24 - 30 °C
tract tourists to come to the is- Lombok’s northern coast route,
land,” said Gayatri, citing the Bali through scenery of beaches and
Marathon as a successful exam- rice paddies. It started at Bang-
ple. The Bali Marathon attracts sal Port — the access point to the
15,000 participants on average three exotic islands of Gili Trawa-
each year. ngan, Gili Air and Gili Meno —
Tourists are no longer looking and finished in Senaru village,
only for scenery or touristy ob- one of two official gates to Rinjani
jects as they now seek lifestyle- Mountain.
related attractions, including Stage 3 was 134 km in length,
sports, said Gayatri. connecting Kuta Beach in Cen-
The 2017 TdLM started on tral Lombok to Sembalun in East
April 13 with the 126.3-km stage Lombok. The stage offered the
one, which connected the prov- real deal for riders as they were
ince’s capital, Mataram, and the pushed to the limits with an ex-
Mandalika special economic zone treme uphill track, but with a
in Central Lombok. The route magical forest view.
had a flat track, which allowed Champion James said Stage
riders to enjoy a view of rice pad- 3 certainly challenged him the
dies and traditional villages along most with a litany of uphill spots.
a bypass road. The stage finished He was, however, very impressed
in Kuta Beach, which is located in with the beauty that Lombok had
the Mandalika zone. to offer and is more than willing
The 113.3-km second stage to return to the island.
stretched from Bangsal to Senaru The last stage was a sprint race
in North Lombok. The stage took of 112 km in Mataram.
THIS ODD WORLD
Shrimp species named after Pink Floyd
OXFORD, ENGLAND: A newly discovered species of shrimp that uses a bright
pink claw to create a sound loud enough to kill small fish has been named for
Pink Floyd. The shrimp found on Panama’s Pacific coast has been dubbed Synal-
pheus pinkfloydi in the peer-reviewed journal Zootaxa. Oxford University Muse-
um of Natural History researcher Sammy De Grave is one of three researchers
credited with discovering the creature. He says the description of the shrimp
was “the perfect opportunity to finally give a nod to my favorite band.”
According to Oxford, pistol or snapping shrimps close their enlarged
claws at a rapid speed to create an imploding bubble. The result is a sound
so loud it can kill or stun a fish. Pink Floyd is also honored in nature with a
damselfly named after its 1969 album “Ummagumma.” — AP
Wal-Mart sued over toilet cleaner description
BOZEMAN, MONTANA: A Montana State University professor is suing Wal-
Mart for libel after he says an employee at the Bozeman store listed his
occupation on a fishing license as a “toilet cleaner.”
Gilbert Kalonde, assistant professor of technology education at MSU,
filed the suit this past week in Gallatin County District Court.
Kalonde is seeking unspecified damages.
Wal-Mart spokesman Ragan Dickens told The Associated Press: “To our
knowledge an administrative process to resolve this with Dr. Kalonde is
ongoing. We’ve not been served with the lawsuit, but we take the claims
seriously and will respond appropriately with the court.”
According to the complaint, Kalonde bought a state fishing license in
April 2015, showing the Wal-Mart employee identification of his employ-
ment at MSU. But the Wal-Mart employee entered “clean toilets” into the
state database as Kalonde’s occupation. The suit contends Wal-Mart ex-
posed Kalonde to “hatred, contempt, ridicule” through the incident. — AP
MONDAY April 17, 2017
With great power
Activists don superhero costumes during a rally to support the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) in Jakarta on Sunday. Activists de-
nounced efforts to weaken and intimidate the anti-graft body following a recent acid attack against its top investigator, Novel Baswedan.
Regions slammed for wasteful spending
Marguerite Afra Sapiie
THE JAKARTA POST / JAKARTA
Regional autonomy has once
again come under scrutiny as
many provincial, regency and
municipal administrations have
been accused of performing poor-
ly, as reflected in budget disburse-
ment for half-baked projects.
Administrative and Bureau-
cratic Reform Minister Asman
Abnur has said administrations
in at least 193 of the nation’s 548
provinces, regencies and munici-
palities had failed to roll out pro-
grams that supported their devel-
opment goals.
The mismatch between plan-
ning and outcomes has report-
edly led to the wastage of Rp 400
trillion (US$30.1 billion), or about
one-fifth of the state budget.
“[For example] constructing ir-
DISCOURSE
Saldi Isra: Collective efforts
needed to reform MK
State administrative expert Saldi Isra, 48, is widely known as a tough
critic of the Constitutional Court (MK), which has been hit hard by graft
cases. One of the court’s justices since April 11, he now finds himself being
the poster boy of the court’s bid to restore public faith. Saldi, a law profes-
sor at Andalas University in Padang, West Sumatra, spoke with The Ja-
karta Post’s Moses Ompusunggu and Dian Septiari about the future
of the court and the high expectations put on him to recover the court’s
tarnished reputation during an interview, last Thursday.
Question: What is your opin-
ion about the future of the court,
which experienced turbulence fol-
lowing corruption cases implicat-
ing former justices Akil Mochtar
and Patrialis Akbar?
Answer: The court was estab-
lished in a good way. It was given
very strong authority [in relation
to] our Constitution, with a posi-
tion similar to the Supreme Court
as the apex of the country’s judi-
ciary system. Soon after it was es-
tablished, the court received posi-
tive responses from the public
and became an idol.
There were positive responses
to the court’s performance when
compared to responses to the per-
formances of other bodies estab-
lished, thanks to an amendment
to the Constitution: the Judicial
Commission and the Regional
Representatives Council (DPD).
The public was in shock, how-
ever, after Akil’s corruption case.
Then it was followed by the re-
cent cases of Patrialis’ [alleged
corruption] and the loss of docu-
ments related to the handling of a
regional election dispute.
The court gradually recovered
after Akil’s case, regaining public
support ahead of hearings of leg-
islative and presidential election
disputes. When the court was per-
forming at its highest level since
Akil’s case, it was again hit by
Patrialis’ case. And now the task
to recover is heavier.
People have put their hopes on
you following your appointment as
court justice by the President. How
will you manage that task?
The court cannot be reformed
single-handedly. There is more
than one component needed for
the court to rebound to a high
level, at least to the level before
Patrialis’ case.
There are nine justices. I am
only one of them. It doesn’t make
sense when people think I could
abruptly change the situation.
Funding for many projects
has been disbursed
without proper planning
Local administrations
spend large on official
trips, hotel meetings
rigation [systems] while there is a
lack of paddy fields, or building a
dam for irrigation but not includ-
ing the construction of the ca-
nals,” said Asman.
The National Mandate Party
politician also noted that there
were too many official trips, meet-
ings at hotels and projects with
vested interests behind them.
The minister said he would en-
courage local governments with
good performance, such as the
provinces of West Java, East Java
and Yogyakarta, to help push oth-
JP/Jerry Adiguna
Saldi Isra
Reform is also crucial because
there are more challenges to
come. In 2018, there will be si-
multaneous regional elections,
including in the foremost regions
like Central Java, East Java, West
Java, South Sulawesi and North
Sumatra. Disputes from the elec-
tions would end up [at the court].
Also, the country will have its
first-ever concurrent presidential
and legislative elections in 2019.
You were a staunch critic of the
court, how did the other justices re-
spond to your arrival?
I know them very well. My crit-
icism of the court was for the sake
of the court itself.
For instance, before Akil’s case
[in 2013], I wrote an article criti-
cizing the court’s tasks in han-
dling election disputes. I warned
that the court could lose its fo-
cus in managing its primary task,
which is handling judicial re-
views, if it is busy managing elec-
tion disputes. Yet Article 24c of
the Constitution does not stipu-
late the court’s authority to man-
age regional election disputes.
Then the Regional Elections
Law [which was amended in
2016] stipulates there shall be a
special court to handle election
disputes in the future.
How did it feel to handle your
first regional election dispute?
As a justice, handling regional
election disputes is not that inter-
esting [laughing].
The court is currently handling
numerous judicial reviews of laws
NATIONAL | 3
NATIONAL SCENE
SWAT-like force proposed to guard KPK
JAKARTA: The Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW) suggests that the Cor-
ruption Eradication Commission (KPK) establish its own independent
security unit tasked with protecting KPK investigators.
Such a force should be set up in anticipation of attacks on KPK inves-
tigators such as the recent acid attack on senior KPK investigator Novel
Baswedan, ICW researcher Emerson Yuntho said on Friday.
Novel, who led the KPK’s investigation into the high-profile case
surrounding the procurement of an e-ID system, suffered burns to his
face after unidentified people sprayed acid on his face on Tuesday
morning.
Emerson took the example of SWAT units that complemented police
agencies in the United States. “They are specifically recruited and trained,
and they could even be armed,” Emerson said as quoted by kompas.com.
The team should also conduct silent operations and secure raids, as
well as investigate acts of terror against the KPK.
“The KPK should independently recruit the members of the team so
they are loyal to the KPK, not other institutions,” Emerson added. — JP
Gianyar becomes world heritage city
JAKARTA: Gianyar regency in Bali has become a member of the Orga-
nization of World Heritage Cities (OWHC), making it the third Indone-
sian area to become a part of the organization.
The other two are Surakarta in Central Java, which was accepted in
2008, and Bali’s provincial capital of Denpasar in 2013.
“Gianyar has a long history and roots of Balinese culture [going
back] 246 years,” the head of Indonesian Heritage Trust (BPPI), Catrini
Pratihari Kubontubuh, told the press on Thursday.
Catrini highlighted Gianyar’s traditional heritage of subak, an irriga-
JP/Wendra Ajistyatama tion system that enabled the Balinese to become prolific rice growers
despite natural challenges such as a hilly landscape. Subak has been
included on UNESCO’s World Heritage list. — JP
er regents and mayors to revamp “In our view, there is a ten- reaucrats is also worsened by cor- jor part of the budget for person-
their performances dency for regions in remote ar- ruption.” nel spending.
An Evaluation of Performance eas that are far away from cen- Robert further slammed the “While the target on spending
Accountability of Government tral government supervision and lack of central government mea- of special allocation funds [DAK]
Agencies (LHE AKIP) report is- not monitored by mass media to sures for evaluating accountabil- is already clear, the disbursement
sued by the Administrative and have less budget accountability,” ity and effectiveness of budget of general allocation funds [DAU]
Bureaucratic Reform Ministry KPPOD executive director Rob- disbursement at the local level, is still problematic since it is of-
in 2016 revealed that 24 provin- ert Endi Jaweng told The Jakar- saying that it only focused on en- ten not in-line with targeted out-
cial administrations and 456 re- ta Post. couraging more budget absorp- comes of programs,” Indra said.
gencies and cities still lacked ac- The discrepancy between bud- tion to boost local economies. Indra went on to say that such
countability, scoring below 70, get spending and outcomes of Under the current system, re- unnecessary disbursement of re-
meaning a C grade. programs is, in fact, an old issue gional transfers that include gen- gional budget funds would be the
The low bureaucratic capac- that results from several factors, eral allocation funds (DAU), spe- main issue addressed in the up-
ity has reportedly been the main including sluggish bureaucratic cial allocation funds (DAK) and coming 2018 guidelines for re-
source of the poor budget plan- reform and budgetary politics, revenue sharing funds (DBH) are gional budget drafting, which is
ning and implementation. Robert said. automatically sent by the central currently being drafted by the
The Regional Autonomy “It’s not about budget absorp- government to regional adminis- Home Ministry.
Watch (KPPOD) revealed that tion, but the quality of spending. trations every three months. The guidelines, expected to be
from its monitoring, regions that A significant part of the budget The Home Ministry’s regional finalized in late May this year, will
were still unaccountable with its is spent without significant im- finance directorate-general sec- provide clear guidance for region-
budget spending included, among pact. The programs lack focus and retary, Indra Baskoro, acknowl- al administrations to optimize
others, Maluku, Papua, Aceh, and therefore create only wasteful edged the problem of inefficient their budgetary spending for pro-
most provinces in Kalimantan ex- spending,” Robert said. spending, saying that many ad- grams and projects that are in-
cept Central Kalimantan. “The poor capabilities of bu- ministrations still allocate a ma- line with national priorities.
considered controversial, such as a
provision on extramarital sex in the
Criminal Code and the one about
the religious column [on IDs] in the
Civil Administration Law.
It is has been suggested that
some justices are not able to put
their personal views aside in re-
viewing cases. What is your opin-
ion on what has been suggested?
I don’t want to comment on
cases that are still ongoing. Let
the public learn the results when
the court issues the rulings. If I
was not a justice, you could ask
my view. But now I am a justice
and I have boundaries on which
topics I can comment on.
It was reported last month that
a number of justices had yet to file
their mandatory wealth reports,
triggering many to call for stron-
ger internal monitoring. Do you
see that as necessary?
Most importantly, it is down
to the justices themselves. They
should be aware of their status as
justices, which make them quali-
fied as statesmen.
I was once told by a US Supreme
Court justice that the majority of
justices [in the US] were formerly
lawyers who had plenty of money.
But they had chosen to become
justices of the top court because
they thought it was a prestigious
position. And they used that view
as [self] control to not destroy the
dignity of the court.
Given Patrialis’ and Akil’s cases,
how concerning is the temptation
for justices to commit illicit activi-
ties while on duty?
The public will monitor my per-
formance. [People would say] “As
an outsider, Saldi was a persistent
critic of the court. Now he is part of
it.” Hopefully I can be continue to
be a good justice and people around
me will warn me when there are
temptations to do bad things.
What did the President say to
you?
At the State Palace, he merely
said “Congratulations, professor
Saldi.” Many may think I am a close
ally of President [Joko] “Jokowi”
[Widodo]. Yes, I am close to him,
in a way [...] when he has questions
about law, he invites me to present
my views. And of course there are
many others who are closer to the
President than I am.
4 | CITY MONDAY April 17, 2017

GREATER JAKARTA No holiday

Jakartans flock to Ancol for Easter break
JAKARTA: Ancol Dreamland Park in North Jakarta saw a dramatic in-
crease in visitors during the long Easter weekend as the park recorded
37,700 visitors as of noon on Saturday.
“We have a target of 210,000 visitors during the holiday,” said Rika
Lestari, PT Pembangunan Jaya Ancol’s spokesperson on Saturday, as
quoted by beritajakarta.com.
Rika added that the park recorded around 51,300 visitors on Friday,
with most of them arriving at Ancol by car.
“We had prepared promotions to attract tourists and visitors during
the Easter holiday long weekend,” Rika said.
Puspa Dewi, a 43-year old resident of Jatinegara, East Jakarta, was
one of the park’s visitors on Saturday.
“Because it’s a long weekend, I took my husband and my children
to Ancol. They wanted to swim at the beach,” she said. — JP

Police investigate ‘terror’ attack on FPI

JAKARTA: The East Jakarta Police have launched an investigation into
an alleged firebombing that occurred in the vicinity of the firebrand
leader of Islamic Defenders Front (FPI), Rizieq Shihab.
The incident occurred early on Sunday, when a car caught fire and
exploded near the location of a tabligh akbar (mass prayer ceremony)
being held on Jl. MT Haryono in Cawang, East Jakarta, the event was
being attended by Rizieq and other FPI members.
“We have gathered statements from several witnesses as part of
the investigation,” said East Jakarta Police spokesperson Comr. Wasiem
on Sunday as quoted by wartakota.tribunnews.com.
Members of the congregation extinguished the fire and checked out
two other cars that were parked near the burning car.
“People found a jerry can that was believed to have been filled with
gasoline,” said Wasiem.
The FPI has suggested that the incident was a form of terror attack JP/PJ Leo
against Rizieq, who has been hammering the message that Muslim Workers continue the construction of the Cibitung-Cimanggis toll road at Kota Wisata housing complex in Gunung Putri, Bogor, West Java, on
voters should not vote for a non-Muslim candidate in the upcoming Saturday. The toll road, when complete, will pass several housing complexes in the Cimanggis area.
Jakarta gubernatorial runoff election. However, the police have said
there is no indication to support this claim. — JP

ELECTION POLLS

No clear frontrunner
in Jakarta election
The Jakarta Post
JAKARTA
Various surveys released just
days before the upcoming Jakar-
ta gubernatorial runoff election
on April 19 have indicated that
the race is one of the tightest in
the capital’s history, with no clear
frontrunner.
At least four out of five surveys
released last week showed Anies
Baswedan to be in the lead, albeit
with small margins, with a recent
survey by Indikator Politik Indo-
nesia showing the margin to be as
small as 0.8 percent.
The survey, released on Sat-
urday, put Anies and his running
mate, Sandiaga Uno, at the top of
the poll, with 48.2 percent of re-
spondents saying that they would
vote for the former education and
culture minister on polling day.
Anies’ rival, incumbent Jakarta
Governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja
Purnama, meanwhile, trails close
behind, at 47.4 percent.
“Since February, the support
for Ahok and his running mate,
Djarot Saiful Hidayat, has been
consistently increasing. Mean-
while, Anies-Sandi’s support,
once strong in the exit poll [at
the first round], now tends to
be weakening,” Indikator Poli-
tik Indonesia executive director
Burhanuddin Muhtadi said dur-
ing the launch of the survey re-
sults in Cikini, Central Jakarta,
on Saturday.
The survey questioned 495 re-
spondents throughout Jakarta
between April 12 and 14, using a
stratified systematic sampling
method with a 4.5 percent margin
of error.
Another pollster, Media Survei
Nasional (Median), also released
its latest survey on Saturday.
The survey, which was held
from April 13 to 14, asked 550 re-
spondents using a multistage ran-
dom sampling method and mar-
gin of error of 4.2 percent.
The survey also found Anies-
Sandi to be leading at 49 percent,
with Ahok-Djarot coming a close
second on 47.1 percent.
The only survey that showed
No through road
Maintenance staff cross the Cipamingkis Bridge in Jonggol, Bogor,
West Java, on Sunday. The bridge suffered structural damage on
Thursday leading to its closure.
Ahok to be winning was released
by Charta Politika Indonesia.
According to that survey, Ahok
has an electability rating of 47.3
percent, compared to 44.8 per-
cent held by Anies.
The survey, which involved 782
respondents across Jakarta from
April 7 to 12, showed that while
the electability trend of Ahok-
Djarot plummeted from Novem-
ber 2016 to January, it rose again
from February to April.
Meanwhile, Anies-Sandi’s
electability has been relatively
stable since November 2016 but
never enjoyed a considerable in-
crease, the survey showed.
Ahok’s blasphemy trial has
played a major part in the ups
and downs of his electability, said
Charta Politika Indonesia execu-
tive director Yunarto Wijaya.
“Ahok, especially, took a big
hit during the first hearings of his
trial, which coincidentally took
place before the first round of
the election. In those hearings,
the witnesses that were present-
ed tended to incriminate him,
whereas in the hearings since the
first round, the trial has heard
from more supportive witnesses,”
said Yunarto.
Another factor that should be
taken into consideration is the
satisfaction rate toward Ahok’s
administration. “Despite con-
troversial decisions made by the
administration, 71.9 percent of
respondents said they were satis-
fied with what the administration
had done so far,” Yunarto said,
adding that Ahok’s eviction poli-
cies were the least popular.
Each candidate had his own
strong suit, which appealed to dif-
ferent voters, he said.
“Ahok’s firmness and the fruit
of his real work are what make
his voters root for him. Anies, on
the other hand, is liked for his
friendliness and politeness,” said
Yunarto.
Ahok’s achilles heel was peo-
ple’s perception of his rudeness
and arrogance, while Anies was
believed to lack experience, par-
ticularly in dealing with the issues
of the capital, he said. (dea)
JP/PJ Leo
Gov candidates get notes on
evictions from LBH Jakarta
Callistasia Anggun Wijaya
THE JAKARTA POST/JAKARTA
Jakarta Legal Aid Institute
(LBH Jakarta) has released a re-
port on the track records of the
city’s gubernatorial candidates,
revealing incumbent Governor
Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama
may excel in preserving diversity,
while Anies Baswedan, with his
promise to humanely develop the
capital, may end the current prac-
tice of forced evictions.
Nelson Nikodemus Simamora,
a lawyer with the institute, said
during his term as governor, Ahok
had shown his commitment to
protecting the rights of minori-
ties, including Ahmadis and lesbi-
an, gay, bisexual and transgender
(LGBT) people, something that
had never been touched upon by
Anies on the campaign trail.
“Basuki protected the rights
of Ahmadis to worship in their
mosque in Bukit Duri when doz-
ens of people expelled them from
that area,” Nelson said recently,
referring to an incident that oc-
curred in July 2015.
Nelson credited the move as
brave.
The governor said in 2016 that
even though all religions con-
demned LGBT people, he could
not pass judgment on them.
The most important thing was
PLURALISM
Grand mosque to be pillar of diversity
The Jakarta Post
JAKARTA
Amid the escalating anti-plu-
ralism that has latched onto the
April 19 Jakarta gubernatorial
runoff election, President Joko
“Jokowi” Widodo is saying the re-
cently inaugurated KH Hasyim
Asy’ari Grand Mosque in Daan
Mogot, West Jakarta, should be a
pillar of diversity for both the cap-
ital and the country.
The first city-owned grand
mosque was named after KH
Hasyim Asy’ari, one of the most
celebrated Muslim clerics and
the founder of Nahdlatul Ulama
(NU), Indonesia’s largest Mus-
lim organization. Asy’ari was de-
clared a national hero in 1964.
Jokowi said that Asy’ari was
the pioneer of modern Islamic
values in the country.
“We must set him as an ex-
ample for how nationalism and
religious values should be up-
held, according with the fact
that Indonesia is a plural and di-
verse nation,” Jokowi said in his
speech during the inauguration
of the mosque on Saturday. “As
an ulama [Islamic scholar], the
founder of NU laid the founda-
tion of friendly religious life in the
country.”
Therefore, the grand mosque
could serve as a reminder to Ja-
karta residents and Indonesians
that it is entirely possible to be a
Muslim while still upholding di-
versity and maintaining plural-
ism in the city and in the country.
“This mosque should become
the symbol of an Islam that is
friendly, moderate and acknowl-
edges diversity in Jakarta in par-
Ahok shows commitment
to protecting minority
groups
Anies vows to not
conduct forced evictions
that the administration tried to
prevent HIV transmission among
this group, Nelson said, citing
Ahok’s statement.
On the other hand, Anies’ com-
mitment to preserving diversity
had been questioned after visit-
ing Islam Defenders Front (FPI)
headquarters in Petamburan,
West Jakarta in January.
The institute noted that Anies
had never expressed concern
for minorities, including Ahma-
dis, Shiites and Christians who
faced difficulties in establishing
churches.
The former culture and edu-
cation minister once referred to
LGBT people as deviants, a state-
ment that indicated his lack of re-
search on the LGBT community,
Nelson said.
While the governor stands ac-
cused of blasphemy, Anies has said
nothing to reduce heightened ten-
sions amid the ongoing case.
“Anies should’ve commented
to ease tensions and ‘restore’ the
election as a contest of programs.
However, he said nothing,” Nel-
New house of worship: An aerial view of the KH Hasyim Asy’ari
Grand Mosque in Daan Mogot, West Jakarta, on Saturday. President
Joko “Jokowi” Widodo inaugurated the mosque, which was built on
a 2.4-hectare plot, on Saturday.
ticular and in Indonesia in gener-
al,” Jokowi said.
The grand mosque was also
proof of the government’s ap-
preciation of Muslim citizens, he
added.
“The government is fulfilling
the rights of its citizens to have a
religion and to perform religious
services,” said Jokowi.
The idea to build the grand
mosque dated back to 2013 when
Jokowi was still the Jakarta
governor.
“I was the one who laid the first
stone for the construction of this
mosque. Governor Basuki “Ahok”
Tjahaja Purnama successfully
finished the construction and it is
son said.
Nevertheless, the institute
said it believed both candidates
had failed to show their com-
mitment to upholding freedom
of expression.
Ahok and his running mate
Djarot Saiful Hidayat appeared to
do nothing in February 2016 while
police and several mass organi-
zations dispersed a leftist event
called the Belok Kiri (Turn Left)
Festival at Taman Ismail Marzuki
(TIM), Cikini, Central Jakarta.
As for Anies, during a cam-
paign event in Sawah Besar, Cen-
tral Jakarta in January, he, who
was once deemed a figure of mod-
erate Islam, was unperturbed to
see a banner urging people to up-
hold the state ideology Pancasila
and expel members of the now-
defunct Indonesian Communist
Party (PKI) from the country.
Anies said such a statement
should be respected as a form of
freedom of expression.
Meanwhile, Anies’ vow to not
conduct forced evictions but ur-
ban renewal that engaged public
aspirations should be appreciat-
ed, Nelson said.
Anies has stated his plan to de-
velop other housing options in-
stead of carrying out evictions.
The former minister signed on
April 8 a political contract with
the Urban Poor Network (JMRK)
Tribunnews/Herudin
now 100 percent complete,” said
Jokowi.
He also praised the mosque’s
decorations, which were highly
influenced by Betawi culture. The
fences, pillars and many parts
of the mosque bear a traditional
Betawi pattern,the gigi balang,
while its design was modeled af-
ter the rumah batan, a traditional
Betawi house.
Jokowi said that he would fully
support the Jakarta administra-
tion to build a grand mosque in
each municipality in Jakarta.
Taking three years to build,
the KH Hasyim Asy’ari Grand
Mosque cost the Jakarta admin-
istration Rp 165 billion (US$12
and Urban Poor Consortium
(UPC) in Ancol, North Jakarta,
which, among others, stated his
promise to adjust spatial plan-
ning in favor of the residents and
legalize their houses, should he be
elected governor.
“That promise should be ap-
preciated. His promise is in accor-
dance with morality,” Nelson said.
The institute noted that the
number of forced evictions had
significantly increased during
Ahok’s tenure.
There were 113 cases of forced
evictions in 2015 involving police
and military personnel, affecting
the livelihoods of 8,145 families
and activities of 6,283 businesses.
The research found that 84
percent of those cases were con-
ducted without proper dialogue
with residents.
In September 2016, the incum-
bent refused to respect the ongo-
ing legal process related to a class-
action lawsuit filed by Bukit Duri
residents against evictions.
The administration, however,
went ahead and evicted the Bukit
Duri residents in late September
2016.
A panel of judges at the Jakar-
ta State Administrative Court
(PTUN) ruled in favor of the
Bukit Duri residents in January,
declaring the evictions had violat-
ed the law.
million). Located on a 2.4-hectare
plot of land, the mosque can ac-
commodate 12,500 people.
The administration, which in-
tended to make the mosque more
than just a place of worship, also
equipped it with supporting fa-
cilities, such as office spaces for
organizers of events held at the
mosque, a function hall for 1,000
people and a room for educa-
tional purposes. The mosque is
also equipped with facilities for
people with disabilities, such as
wheelchair ramps.
To better manage the mosque,
acting Jakarta governor Soni
Sumarsono established a council
on Thursday. Among the mem-
bers of the council are Religious
Affairs Deputy Minister Nasarud-
din Umar and Salahuddin Wahid,
one of Asy’ari’s grandchildren.
The mosque was initially
scheduled to be inaugurated on
Sunday and Ahok was supposed
to join the President for the cere-
mony, but the inauguration had to
be moved up a day because of con-
flicts in the President’s schedule,
said Sumarsono.
“The President has another
event tomorrow [Sunday]. In-
stead of delaying it too long, we
thought it would be better to
inaugurate it today. We were
all available today and ready,”
he said.
Aside from Jokowi and Sumar-
sono, the inauguration was also
attended by Religious Affairs
Minister Lukman Hakim Saifud-
din, presidential chief of staff
Teten Masduki and Solahuddin
Wahid and Yenny Wahid as repre-
sentatives of KH Hasyim Asy’ari’s
family. (dea)
MONDAY April 17, 2017 ARCHIPELAGO | 5

Lava, ash clouds from ISLAND FOCUS

Sinabung flatten village Semarang

Makassar
Jayapura

Apriadi Gunawan
THE JAKARTA POST/KARO
Lava spewing from multiple
eruptions that started last week at
Mount Sinabung in Karo regency,
North Sumatra, has destroyed the
entire Simacem village, which is
located in the area’s “red zone”
and a mere 3 kilometers away
from the volcano.
There have been no reports of
fatalities as residents were relo-
cated to the neighboring Siosar
village several years ago.
No buildings were spared in
the disaster, which killed live-
stock and much of the surround-
ing wildlife, including birds and
monkeys, according to Pelin De-
pari, a volunteer who was part of
the team assisting in Simacem’s
evacuation.
“There were no [signs
of ] life there; only a barren,
deserted place,” he told The Ja-
karta Post.
A team of volunteers entered
Simacem on Sunday after receiv-
ing reports of pyroclastic flow
CRIME
Medan family murder fugitive arrested in Riau
After almost a week, Andi Lala,
35, the alleged main actor in the
brutal slaughter of five members
of a family in Medan, North Su-
matra, was arrested in Pekan Tua
village, Indragiri Hilir regency,
on Saturday.
The arrest was made following
a weeklong investigation by a team
comprising members of the North
Sumatra Police and Riau Police.
“I have instructed for the sus-
pect to be taken to the North
Sumatra Police headquarters
[in Medan]. We hope he doesn’t
flee on the way there,” North Su-
matra Police deputy chief Brig.
Gen. Agus Andrianto said on Sat-
urday.
The suspect was escorted to
Medan by high-level security.
Further investigation into
Andi will be conducted by the
Team of volunteers find
no signs of life in village
blanketed in hot ash
clouds for a week
Mount Sinabung
continues to erupt
encroaching the area. They dis-
covered flattened trees and build-
ings, but there was nothing left of
the small village.
Susanto Ginting from Indo-
nesian Volunteer Society (MRI)
in Karo explained that spewing
hot lava from the volcano’s cra-
ter started to burn the village at
around 2 a.m. on Friday a violent
eruption.
“It’s been almost seven years
since [local residents] expe-
rienced the impact of Mount
Sinabung’s eruption. They have
gotten used to it and are not
afraid anymore,” said Susanto, a
resident of Gurukinayan village
located some 7 km from the vol-
cano.
He added that he has felt trem-
North Sumatra Police, as the
murder took place in their juris-
diction.
The suspect was arrested at
4 a.m., said Sr. Comr. Rina Sari
Ginting, the North Sumatra Po-
lice spokesperson.
She said the police had been
investigating Andi’s where-
abouts since 9 p.m. the night be-
fore. Investigators had found An-
di’s hiding place at around 1 a.m.
but they had to delay raiding the
location since there was a party
nearby.
“Andi tried to fight back, he
even attacked police officers but
the team could handle it,” Rini
told The Jakarta Post. With Andi
caught, all of the suspects in the
murder case have been arrested.
Roni, 21, and Andi Saputera,
27, were arrested on April 9, only
ors coming from Sinabung every
day since eruptions started a little
over a week ago.
Volcanic activity has intensi-
fied following the collapse of the
lava dome on April 9, according
to Ardi, an officer from the Cen-
ter of Volcanology, Disaster Mit-
igation and Geology (PVMBG)
stationed at Sinabung’s monitor-
ing post.
“The lava dome grows every-
day, but since the dome — with
a volume of more than 2 million
cubic meters — collapsed last
week, Sinabung’s eruptions have
increased in intensity,” he said,
warning residents around the vol-
cano to remain vigilant.
Mount Sinabung erupted four
times on Friday, with the largest
eruption occurring at 1 a.m. and
shooting volcanic ash 2,000 me-
ters into the air.
It erupted again on Sunday.
The level of volcanic activity
can be categorized as Level IV, ac-
cording to Ardi.
The PVMBG has recommend-
ed local residents and visitors to
hours after the murder took place.
The trio allegedly killed Ri-
yanto, 50, his wife Sri Ariyani,
35, Sri’s mother Sumarni, 60. The
couple’s children, 14-year-old Sy-
ifa Fadillah Hinaya and 11-year-
old Gilang Laksono, were also
slain.
Stab wounds were found on
their bodies. The police have
taken the bodies to Bhayangka-
ra Hospital in Medan to undergo
autopsies.
Their alleged motives have not
yet been determined.
Andi Saputra was allegedly
tasked with keeping watch on
the area around Riyanto’s house,
while Roni and Andi Lala alleg-
edly committed the murders.
Andi Lala allegedly killed Riyan-
to, Sri Ariyani and Sumarni using
a machete, said the police.
maintain a 3-km radial distance
from the peak of the volcano, as
well as a distance of 7 km south
to southeast of Sinabung, 6 km
southeast to east and 4 km east to
north of the volcano.
Villages located along the
nearby river and upstream from
Sinabung should look out for
signs of cold lava.
Simacem village had been
abandoned for two years be-
fore it was finally destroyed by
lava over the weekend, said Na-
tanael Peranginangin from the
Karo Disaster Mitigation Agency
(BPBD).
It was among 15 villages that
were evacuated. Others included
Suka Meriah, Bekerah, Berastepu,
Gurukinavan, Gamber and Kuta
Tonggal, whose residents were
relocated to safer areas.
“Of those, 377 families were re-
located to Siosar [village]. Some
1,682 people are still in the pro-
cess of being relocated, while
1,050 residents are currently
waiting [in temporary refugee
camps],” Daniel said.
Roni, meanwhile, alleged-
ly killed the two children, Syifa
and Gilang. He also allegedly at-
tempted to kill another child in
the family, but the 2-year-old girl
hid under the bed.
She is the only survivor.
She was found alive but had
bruises all over her body. The
child has been admitted to Mitra
Medika Hospital for intensive
care.
Wagiman, Riyanto’s father,
was in disbelief that Andi Lala
killed Riyanto and his family
members because Riyanto was
still related to Andi Lala.
“I’m glad he’s been arrested.
I hope he gets the heaviest pun-
ishment,” Wagiman said on Sat-
urday.
— JP/APRIADI GUNAWAN
Cilacap
Religious studies center opens in Semarang
SEMARANG: Wahid Hasyim University in Semarang, Central Java
opened the Center for Religion and Peace Studies on Saturday.
The center’s director, Taslim Sahlan, said the establishment of the center
was part of the university’s academic responsibility to promote tolerance.
“Today, religious symbols are used for political interests and agen-
das,” he said.
One of the center’s researchers, Tedi Kholiludin, said religious events
should not only be studied through theological perspectives. “We can-
not ignore other factors. It is not solely about faith. We will use science
to study religious phenomenon,” he said.
Rector Mudzakkir Ali said the university, which was affiliated with
Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), would continue to promote moderate Islam
and nationalism. — JP
Police open command center, launch apps
MAKASSAR/JAYAPURA: Makassar Police inaugurated a command
center to monitor security conditions in the provincial capital of South
Sulawesi and respond more quickly to emergencies.
The center, which is integrated with a similar monitoring facility
operated by the city’s administration, is connected to an Android-based
app allowing users to press a panic button to call the police.
“Makassar is now well monitored. If residents need security, police
personnel can be deployed more swiftly, because the reports are
received in real time,” National Police chief Gen. Tito Karnavian said
during the inauguration of the facility in Makassar on Wednesday.
More than 300 CCTV cameras are installed across the city, 100 of
which have been placed in areas considered prone to crime.
Makassar Mayor Mohammad Ramdhan Pomanto said he aimed to
see 3,000 CCTV cameras installed in Makassar by 2018.
Meanwhile in Papua, the Jayapura Police have launched Noken
Online, an Android-based app that aims to improve police and other
emergency services.
“To submit a report, people do not need to go to a police station
anymore. They can just open Noken Online on their phones and sub-
mit their reports. People can monitor conditions in the city and give in-
put to the police from home,” Jayapura Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Tober
Marison Sirait said during the launch of the app on Wednesday. — JP
Jealousy allegedly fuels murder
CILACAP: Nurofik, 22, from Kutasari village in Cilacap regency, Central
Java has been detained for allegedly killing his girlfriend, who report-
edly refused to show him a text message on her cellphone.
“I was jealous. I was so upset because, as her boyfriend, I was not al-
lowed to see the message,” Nurofik said at the Majenang Police on Friday.
Mutmainah, 17, allegedly died of suffocation after her boyfriend
allegedly strangled her following a fight that took place while the two
were at a pine farm, on Tuesday.
Nurofik said he was shocked to see her not moving because he did
not intend to kill her. Two days later, Mutmainah’s body was found by
a farmer. Swift police investigation led to the arrest of Nurofik.
“It’s clear the suspect committed the murder out of jealousy,” said
Cilacap Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Yudo Hermanto. — JP

Courtesy of Korea Tourism Organization Jakarta

Scenic Korea a favorite

place for commercials
I
ndonesian film production houses often
shoot scenes abroad to add an exotic flavor
to their movies, shows and commercials.
Foreign settings are also often chosen
for music videos. Countries chosen include
Germany, Macao, Singapore and South Korea,
the latter of which is particularly popular due to
its much-loved popular culture, called Korean
Wave, and entertainment as well as for its year-
long beauty, regardless of the season.
Two years ago, the filming in Korea of a
commercial for a prominent Indonesian coffee
company became the talk of the Indonesian
public at that time. The commercial featured
a famous Korean actor set against various
beautiful cities in the country.
The scenes in the commercial left a strong
impression on Indonesian viewers. Thanks to
the recording, the coffee brand in question
experienced a significant boost in sales for its
products.
Korean film production studios were also
impressed by Indonesia’s beauty. A number of
them saw the success of this commercial and
decided to shoot their own commercials in
known for her beauty, starred in a video that
promoted SK-II’s line of beauty products and was
notably set against a backdrop of Indonesian
volcanoes. The idea behind the advertisement
was that people could still do things to protect
their skin even in extreme conditions.
Shooting commercials abroad, besides
promoting unity between nations, also has a
positive impact on tourism. When a famous
landmark, city or attraction in a foreign land
is featured in a commercial, it not only tempts
consumers to buy the product featured but it
also makes them want to travel to those places.
The Korea Tourism Organization (KTO) Jakarta
supports these kinds of film commercial-led
projects. It extends full support to Indonesian
film companies that want to do commercial
shoots in Korea. By attracting Indonesian
companies to shoot in Korea, the KTO is also
increasing public awareness of tourist attractions
there.
“If there are Indonesian companies that want
to shoot films in Korea, we are very much ready
and our support will be available, although you
need to discuss the specifics involving filming For more Information:
Advertorial

Indonesia. locations and other details with us beforehand,” +62 21 5785 3030 I www. visitkorea.or.id
For example, Lee Si-young, a Korean actress KTO Jakarta director Oh hyon-Jae said.
6 | OPINION MONDAY April 17, 2017

Making sense of PLN’s business

tate-owned power company PLN has shelved Mobile payment war
S the construction of several power plants with
a combined capacity of about 9 gigawatts

P
(GW). Construction of the projects will not ayment systems have
be considered until 2020 as the company come a long way since
700 BC when the first
forecasts that feeble economic growth is set to drastically metal coins were used
reduce demand for electricity. as a method of barter. What is
The impacted projects, according to PLN officials, are holding back mobile payments
mostly located in Java — the country’s center of industry, — or paying by phone — in Indo-
which is keeping its potential electricity crisis at bay and nesia? It uses a device we are al-
enjoying a 30 percent surplus in electricity capacity. ready carrying and it works well
in Europe, China and even Afri-
PLN has argued that it will suffer huge financial losses ca.
should it be forced to go ahead with the projects, say- Mobile payment systems, even
ing that the electricity will not be able to be absorbed by in the United States, require the
customers but PLN will still have to pay for its production. latest smartphones and retailers
The postponement will further diminish the govern- need to have the right payment
ment’s ambitious policy to complete the construction of terminals.
35 GW worth of power plants by 2019. Earlier, officials For example, Apple Pay and
Android Pay require payment
already said that only around 40 percent of the 35 GW terminals with near field com-
would be able to be produced by 2019 because of various munication (NFC) technology.
hurdles. Samsung Pay does not require
PLN’s decision to delay construction of the plants also this technology and can work at
indicates the gloomy prospects for the industrial sector as stores that have old-fashioned
the company may well be aware that real business activities magnetic stripe readers at their
are unlikely to increase until at least 2020. The expecta- cash registers. However, only the
latest high-end Samsung devices
tion of weak industrial activities should have raised the are equipped with this system.
alarm for President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, who came to Neither Apple Pay, Android
power on his promises to create jobs, particularly for young Pay or Samsung Pay is available
people. in Indonesia right now.
Given the bleak reality in Java, PLN’s latest electricity pro- In Indonesia, mobile payment
curement business plan (RUPTL), a guideline for the com- through apps provided by banks
or telecommunications compa-
pany’s operations until 2026, has highlighted the company’s nies is more popular. TCash from
focus on expanding electricity capacity in Sumatra, Kaliman- Telkomsel is the biggest telecom
tan and Sulawesi. The company has argued that electricity e-wallet service.
demand in these three areas has outpaced supply. Companies like Starbucks
Another adjustment in the business plan is a firm com- even use their own special pay-
mitment to have 23 percent of the country’s power plants ment apps. In conclusion, there
fueled by renewable energy by 2026, up from the current are tons of different mobile pay-
ment apps and systems out there.
figure of 13 percent. PLN is even willing to go the extra mile For consumers, the promise of
and operate a nuclear power plant if renewable sources from mobile payments lies in a wallet-
water, wind, geothermal, solar and biomass fail to meet the free lifestyle, but if you cannot
desired target, according to the company’s RUPTL.
If a nuclear plant fails to get the green light from the
government, PLN will even explore the possibility of using
a small modular nuclear reactor to generate electricity for
certain major islands in the archipelago.
Should investors dump the Deutschemark?
Another significant arrangement in the RUTL is PLN’s
attempt to focus on efficiency, so that it can produce elec- Paul Donovan
tricity at lower costs. LONDON
The RUPTL requires PLN to increase the use of energy
Bagus Aditya
JAKARTA
use the same solution at Carre-
four or Hypermart as you can at
Alfamart, well then you might as
well just stick with your cash and
credit cards, right?
Thus, it is a fundamental issue
to have a mass adoption of mo-
bile payments. Consumers have
no way of knowing if a store can
accept whatever payment capa-
bility they have in their phones.
Until today, there is no clear
market leader in the Indonesia
mobile payments industry. This
is an area where Indonesia is fall-
ing behind. All players are play-
ing catch-up in mobile transac-
tions. Bank Indonesia listed 21
licensed electronic money oper-
ators as of August 2016.
The latest player in the mobile
payment game is Go-Pay. Go-Pay
is Go-Jek’s electronic wallet that
serve as an electronic payment
system.
Users top up their balances
and use them for cashless pay-
ment for any service ordered
through the app.
Last year’s acquisition of Pon-
selPay, which holds an e-mon-
ey license from Bank Indonesia,
enabled Go-Jek to strengthen its
Go-Pay system.
The latest updates in the Go-
Jek app show new features in
broke apart money would almost
certainly move to Germany.
Moving cash into a strong econ-
which customers can transfer
the money in their Go-Pay ac-
counts using a QR code or phone
number to other Go-Jek app us-
ers. The updates are also prepar-
ing the system to allow users to
withdraw money.
It seems that Go-Pay is follow-
ing Alipay’s playbook. Alipay was
originally developed by Alibaba
Corp. for its own payment sys-
tem on Alibaba.com and Taobao.
com. Alipay offers an online es-
crow system. Consumers’ pay-
ments are made to and held by
Alipay until they have received
the products.
Currently Alipay is a separate
app on devices and goes into of-
fline, with physical stores in Chi-
na able to accept Alipay. When a
customer goes to pay for some-
thing, they need to open the Ali-
pay app, then scan a QR code pro-
vided by the retailers.
Although Go-Pay is still in its
early stages, with subsidy cam-
paign of Go-Jek to Go-Pay us-
ers who use services inside the
app, Go-pay is probably the
most active e-wallet in Indonesia
to date.
Another key reason consum-
ers are hesitant to adopt mobile
payments is fear over security.
Go-Jek made headlines in
2016, but not in a good way. Sev-
eral Go-Jek users’ accounts had
been compromised and sold in
social media. Go-Jek says its
popular mobile app has not been
hacked. The hackers simply ex-
tracted the usernames and pass-
words of the users and used them
The imbalance would create
significant inflation. It would be
as if the Germans had printed
to access their accounts.
There is the trust issue for the
consumer every time a new se-
curity breach comes up and it is
not just payment breaches that
cause this mistrust, but rather
every type of breach affects the
consumer’s trust in new things.
With the acquisition of Laza-
da by Alibaba in 2016, Alipay was
expected to quickly enter the
game of mobile payments in In-
donesia. It would be interesting
to see how Go-Pay will compete
with its role model.
Furthermore, a rumor says
that Samsung Pay will be intro-
duced together with the launch
of the Galaxy S8 smartphone in
Indonesia. In the meantime, Tel-
komsel has pledged to expand
its TCash service across Indone-
sia in 2017. Definitely, the war of
mobile payments in Indonesia is
brewing up.
According to a report from
eMarketer, the number of smart-
phone users in Indonesia will
rise from 55 million in 2015 to 92
million in 2019.
Similar to the smartphones
war, the stakes involved in mo-
bile wallets are multiple and
manifest: For technology giants,
developing a successful mobile
wallet would strengthen their
grip over the millions of domes-
tic smartphone users and further
drive ecosystem lock-in.
The writer is a lawyer at
a prominent law firm in South
Jakarta and a tech enthusiast.
of euros might get one Deutsche-
mark for one euro, but foreign-
ers one Deutschemark for three

I
resources found on location, while also increasing the do not believe that the euro
will break apart. Monetary
number of mobile power plants as a short-term solution for unions very rarely breakup
raising the national electrification ratio and maintaining — the process is economically, so-
sufficient power output. cially and politically traumatic. A
While PLN’s business plan is becoming more rational breakup of the euro would be con-
and is in line with the current reality, hopes abound for the siderably more painful than the
company to also ease its monopolistic mentality and to breakup of a fixed exchange rate
reform its business process to attract more participation regime.
However if the euro ceases to
from the private sector. exist, holding euro cash or bank
deposits in Germany is unlikely
to provide the safe haven some in-
OTHER OPINION vestors believe.
Every monetary union break-
up in the 20th century was pre-
Peninsula parties must avoid collision ceded by dramatic capital move-
ment; monetary union breakups
are driven by bank runs, not pol-
omy seems logical. If someone in
France fears France may leave the
euro in the future, and if they be-
lieve the French franc would be a
weak currency, it makes sense for
them to take money out of their
bank in euros while they still can.
They could hold that money as
physical cash, believing a euro in
hand is worth more than a franc
in the bank. Alternatively, they
could move their money to a Ger-
man bank, thinking that wheth-
er they get euros or Deutsche-
marks in the future they would
hold a stronger currency than the
French franc. Thus money flows
into Germany.
If after such inflows all the eu-
huge amounts of money over-
night. The Germans tried print-
ing huge amounts of money in
1923. It did not end well.
If Germany were unwilling to
accept inflation, policymakers
would have to reduce the amount
of Deutschemarks in the econ-
omy. Policymakers did this af-
ter almost every previous mone-
tary union breakup. The German
government might force French
holders of euros in Germany to
receive francs. The German gov-
ernment might decide to convert
only a limited number of euros
into Deutschemarks. Any sum
above that level could be forcibly
invested into bonds, or converted
euros, for instance. Exactly that
happened with German mone-
tary reunification in 1990.
Domestic holders of the Os-
tmark received one Deutche-
mark for every Ostmark that they
owned (up to a limit). Foreigners
received one Deutschemark for
every three  Ostmarks that they
owned. This reduced the infla-
tion consequences of converting
Ostmarks into Deutschemarks.
The question for foreign inves-
tors is not how strong or weak
the Deutschemark would be if the
euro broke apart. The question
for foreign investors is what they
would get in exchange for Euros
held in German banks.

F
or those convinced a military solution to the current cri- iticians. Money moved into the ros in Germany were converted at a disadvantageous exchange The euro is not likely to break
sis on the Korean Peninsula is unavoidable, Chinese Presi- economy that investors believed into Deutschemarks, they would rate. Both practices have been up. Nevertheless, Deutschemark
dent Xi Jinping’s latest emphasis on “resolving problems to be strongest. represent claims on German common after past monetary cash is not a certain store of value
through peaceful means” in a phone conversation with his Unit- The Austro-Hungarian break- goods and services (that is what union breakups. in the event of the Euro disinte-
ed States counterpart on Wednesday should act as a reminder up of the 1920s saw money move money is). Claims  on German A potentially popular way of re- grating.
that the worst-case scenario should and can be avoided. to Hungary. The United States output would surge but German ducing the number of Deutsche-
The truth is that although the prospect of war may seem real, breakup of 1932 saw money move output  would be unchanged. Put marks after a monetary union
no party really wants a war. Nor should we neglect what hap- to New York. The Czechoslovakia another way, German money sup- breakup would be to discriminate The writer is global chief econo-
pened on Tuesday in the Supreme People’s Assembly in Pyong- breakup of 1993 saw money move ply would explode relative to Ger- between domestic and foreign mist, UBS Wealth Management,
yang. In sharp contrast to its war rhetoric, Pyongyang rein- to the Czech Republic. If the euro man GDP. holders of cash. Domestic holders London.
stated its long-gone foreign affairs committee, appointing two
diplomats known for dealing with their US and ROK counter-
parts in past negotiations.
Since peace is in the interests of all stakeholders, they should
not give up on a non-military solution. And the first step is to
stop adding fuel to fire.
United feels the sway of consumers in Asia
The DPRK, in particular, must refrain from conducting an- Conor Sen ing growth will come from Asia. to balance accessing the Chinese the bottom line seems to be a
other nuclear missile provocation on Saturday, when celebrat- BLOOMBERG VIEW US-based multinational compa- market with China’s demands growing trend in America. We’ve
ing the 105th anniversary of the birth of its founding father. nies will make the Asian middle that Google censor its content in seen tech companies and sports

O
While the US and the ROK should suspend their large-scale n Monday — day one of
military exercises and cease their belligerent brinkmanship. the fiasco over United Air-
A misstep by either side at such a critical juncture could lines’s forcible removal of
prove disastrous, and the damage irreparable. a passenger from an overbooked
— CHINA DAILY, BEIJING flight — the stock of United Con-
tinental Holdings Inc. actually
rallied. Perhaps Americans were
Online bashing and mental health outraged by how the passen-
ger was treated, but airlines op-
class their growth strategy.
Starbucks just announced that
it will  provide Chinese workers
with health insurance that ex-
tends coverage to the parents
of workers as well, both to at-
tract talent and in response to
Chinese values. It’s also to es-
tablish Starbucks as a “Chinese
the country. Facebook has been
blocked in China since 2009,
despite the company’s best ef-
forts; the CEO, Mark Zuckerberg,
studied Mandarin and courted
Chinese officials.
The drama does not all play
out abroad. My Bloomberg View
colleague  Justin Fox notes  that
leagues threaten states that take
stances on gay rights unpopular
with the companies’ and leagues’
constituents.
Corporate CEOs have found
themselves in trouble early in the
Trump administration for meet-
ing with the president or serving
on one of his business councils.

B
y now social media users know the double-edged real- erate in a consolidated indus- brand” in the minds of Chinese the growing number of Chinese The values and demands of Asian
ity of living lives on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and try where consumers don’t have consumers. students in American colleges consumers create another cru-
the like. While the technology offers tremendous bene- much choice. Investors seemed to Hollywood has been cater- has helped some schools sur- cial constituency to satisfy.
fits that have changed the way we live — from connecting and shrug and assume that customers ing,  some would say “pander- vive budget problems. As some The days when companies
keeping in touch with friends and loved ones to keeping our- would still fly United anyway. ing,” to the Chinese audience for schools in the Northeast and stayed out of values and politics
selves updated about the world — the platform has also served But an interesting thing hap- years. As DVD revenue has dwin- Midwest continue to struggle may be history. But as consum-
to unleash unsavory, destructive forces peculiar to the instanta- pened on day two. dled with the rise of streaming with demographic problems, ers increasingly demand that
neous, viral character of the medium. Overnight, there were re- video, Hollywood studios have some will probably accept more the companies from which they
The rise of fake news is one; the prevalence of cyberbullying ports that the social media storm focused more on tentpole mov- students from Asia. buy their products reflect a cer-
is another. against United had spread to ie franchises with global appeal, The ramifications are fascinat- tain set of values, the question
To compound the problem, online bashing appears to be China. Chinese users speculated hoping to offset the loss of DVD ing. Imagine future protests on becomes: Whose values should
acute among a particularly vulnerable group: young people. that the passenger was mistreat- revenue with income from global college campuses, driven not by a company put first? A plurality
A study last year by Kaspersky Lab and iconKids & Youth ed because he was Asian. And ticket sales. liberal American students repre- of its consumers? Its employees?
found that 16 percent of the children surveyed said they are United’s stock found itself down Making films that serve Chi- senting liberal American values, Its country of domicile?
more afraid of being bullied online than offline, and seven out of 4 percent in the morning. If it nese audiences or provide coun- but by students from Asia, speak- How these decisions end up
10 bullied children admitted to experiencing trauma. looks like a coincidence, keep try-specific products to Asian ing for their own cultural imper- being made will determine not
The need for more Philippine studies along the lines that watching — because other global consumers is one thing, but it’s atives. When those two groups just the brands that win in the
have been conducted abroad on online bashing, especially companies will also rise and fall when American consumers and diverge, whose values will win marketplace, but the values that
among adolescents, is urgent and acute. with the perceptions of consum- institutions are forced to adapt out? Would the outcome be dif- spread around the world.
The online landscape has, in many ways, become even more ers in Asia. in response to Asian values that ferent when a campus’s popula-
vicious since then. How it’s affecting the mental health of Filipi- As Adam Carstens of PQ Part- larger tensions may arise. Silicon tion is 40 percent Chinese from
nos plugged into it 24/7 should be an ongoing concern. ners notes, over the next 15 years Valley is versed in that conflict. when it is 80 percent Chinese? The writer is a Bloomberg View
— PHILIPPINE DAILY INQUIRER, MANILA most global middle-class-spend- Google has struggled with how This clash between values and columnist.

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MONDAY April 17, 2017
Finishing off
major killer malaria
Shamas-ur-Rehman Toor
PROJECT SYNDICATE/JEDDAH
M
alaria has long been one
of the major killer dis-
eases of our age. World
Health Organization (WHO) data
show that as much as half of the
world’s population is at risk. But
roughly 90 percent of malaria
cases and 92 percent of malaria
deaths take place in just one re-
gion: Sub-Saharan Africa.
Europe and North America
live completely free of malaria.
But children in Sub-Saharan Af-
rica often suffer through multiple
bouts of the disease before they
reach the age of 5.
And children below the age
of five account for 70 percent of
malaria-related deaths. Pregnant
women who contract the disease
can suffer serious health compli-
cations.
The good news is that the fight
against malaria has lately gained
momentum, with infections fall-
ing steadily in most places and
malaria-related deaths down by
29 percent since 2010.
Progress can be attributed
partly to innovations, including
new rapid diagnostic tests that
work in just minutes, more acces-
sible and affordable anti-malar-
ial drugs and rising use of long-
lasting insecticide-treated nets
(LLINs).
Greater community engage-
ment has also helped, with pop-
ular musicians, media organi-
zations and religious leaders
advocating for stronger action
against malaria.
Senegal is one of the countries
leading the decline in cases. Near-
ly 86 percent of the population
now uses LLINs, and most people
have access to rapid diagnostic
tests, as well as artemisinin-based
combination therapy, which is
provided for free by the govern-
ment and donors.
Community health workers,
under an effective national pro-
gram led by the country’s health
minister, Awa Marie Coll-Seck,
have played a pivotal role in en-
abling progress.
The results are impressive. In
2001, nearly 36 percent of outpa-
tient visits in Senegal were malar-
ia-related. According to the Na-
tional Malaria Control Program
(NMCP), that figure stood at just
3.3 percent last year.
Over the same period, malaria-
related deaths fell from nearly 30
percent to just above 2 percent.
The United States-based Centers
for Disease Control reports that,
from 2008 to 2010, the number of
children under the age of five in-
fected with malaria dropped by
50 percent.
Senegal is hoping to achieve
pre-elimination (defined by the
Dams threaten to cut
Mekong rice supply
Frank E. Lobrigo
PHILIPPINE DAILY INQUIRER/
ANN/MANILA
L
aos and Cambodia are
neighbors. They share a
history as former colo-
nies of France which left behind
words, architecture and, enviably,
cuisine.
Laos is situated north of Cam-
bodia and the river, the great Me-
kong that feeds Cambodia, only
does so after satisfying the needs
of Laos. In other words, Laotians
get to “drink” its life-giving wa-
ters first, before Cambodians.
The same mighty channel irri-
gates the vast rice lands of Viet-
nam and Thailand, which are the
grain basket of Southeast Asia.
Filipinos largely depend for their
daily glucose shots on Thailand
and Vietnam.
Finding a way to share the re-
source-rich Mekong remains one
of Southeast Asia’s most elusive
goals.  Mekong dam projects because they
“Eleven dams are planned on
the lower stretch of the river,”
notes Kirk Herbertson of NGO
International Rivers.
Kirk reports that, “These dams
would bring their proponents a
great deal of revenue, but would
threaten the food security of mil-
lions of people, most of whom
would never see the benefits of
the dams.
Back in 1995, Cambodia, Laos,
Thailand and Vietnam signed a
treaty to create the Mekong River
Commission (MRC), whose mis-
sion is to promote shared use of
the river. The MRC’s first big test
came in 2010 after Laos proposed
to build the Xayaburi Dam.
The consultations did not re-
solve disagreements over the
project, and in 2012, Laos and
Thailand defied neighboring gov-
ernments and decided to pro-
NMCP as fewer than five cases
per 1,000 people annually) by
2020, with the WHO certifying
malaria as fully eliminated from
the country by 2030. But getting
there will not be easy.
Senegal will need more re-
sources, a stronger government
commitment, increased support
from development partners, and
greater community involvement.
Against this background, the
Lives and Livelihoods Fund
(LLF) — a grant facility launched
by the Islamic Development Bank
(IsDB) and the Bill & Melinda
Gates Foundation — has joined
Senegal’s fight against malaria.
The LLF combines US$500
million from donors — including
Saudi Arabia’s King Salman Hu-
manitarian Aid and Relief Center,
the Qatar Fund for Development,
the Abu Dhabi Fund for Develop-
ment and the Islamic Solidarity
Fund for Development (ISFD)—
with $2 billion of IsDB financing
for health, agriculture, and rural
infrastructure projects.
Administered by the IsDB, the
LLF is the biggest initiative of its
kind based in the Middle East,
aiming to increase the resourc-
es for development across the 30
least-developed and lower-mid-
dle-income countries in the Mus-
lim world.
One of the LLF’s first projects
will be a $32 million malaria pre-
elimination project in Senegal.
The LLF’s governance mecha-
nism, the Impact Committee
(of which I am an alternate mem-
ber, representing ISFD), ap-
proved the year-one pipeline last
September.
Senegal agreed to the project
— a scaled-up version of the suc-
cessful NMCP — in February. As
a result, 25 districts in five re-
gions of Senegal will be helped in
achieving malaria pre-elimina-
tion, benefiting nearly four mil-
lion people (about 25 percent of
Senegal’s total population).
I recently traveled to Senegal to
assess the project’s progress. The
other Impact Committee mem-
bers and I met with Coll-Seck and
other leaders, who affirmed the
project’s importance.
The most moving part of the
trip was our visit to the Deggo
health post, in the suburbs of Da-
kar, where health workers and
community volunteers explained
to us their efforts to fight the
disease.
If we are to win the fight, more
financing from funds like the LLF,
particularly in Sub-Saharan Afri-
ca, is the way to do it.
The writer is senior program
management specialist at the Islam-
ic Solidarity Fund for Development,
Islamic Development Bank Group.
ceed with the dam, despite ongo-
ing opposition from Cambodia
and Vietnam. Early work is now
beginning in Laos on the second
Mekong hydropower project,
called the Don Sahong Dam.
With two projects underway
at speeds faster than the MRC
diplomatic process can manage,
the future of Mekong coopera-
tion is uncertain. There is a risk
that the dispute over the Mekong
dams will escalate: not everyone
can win, and the tradeoffs will be
enormous. Billions of dollars are
at stake, but so are the livelihoods
of millions of people.”
Disputes on river infrastructure
arise not only from the inter-state
dependency on the Mekong but
also from the biological integrity
and sustainable management of
the basin’s terrestrial and fresh-
water resources. These issues con-
front the Mekong countries.
The Philippines should be on the
lookout for developments in the
will impact its food security. While
there is still time, Manila should
consider alternatives in addressing
a potential decline in rice produc-
tion in Thailand and Vietnam, and
therefore higher rice prices.
Dispute over sharing of their
most important freshwater re-
source could easily develop into a
full-blown water crisis in Mekong
countries. And that would likely
mean strangulation of supply of
a staple food source for Filipinos.
Rice shortage and a spike in rice
prices would spell trouble for the
Philippines and create an oppor-
tunity for importers and public of-
ficials out to make a fast buck.
The writer practiced law for 20
years. He is a law lecturer at San
Beda College Graduate School of
Law in Manila.
ASEAN the cornerstone
of RI foreign policy, again
David Willis
ADELAIDE
A
SEAN has been at the
core of Indonesia’s
preferred regional or-
der since its incep-
tion in 1967. However, after
half a century, it is clear that re-
gional challenges have got the
best of ASEAN and that the
grouping requires substantial re-
form if it is going to remain the
cornerstone of Indonesia’s for-
eign policy.
Ibrahim Almuttaqi’s article on
March 17, “ASEAN still the cor-
nerstone of Indonesia’s foreign
policy,” responding to the debate
between myself and Dedi Dinar-
to of the Gadjah Mada University
in The Diplomat, rightly reminds
us of the importance ASEAN has
held for Indonesia over the last
50 years.
ASEAN’s designation as the
“cornerstone” of Indonesian for-
eign policy came in the 1970s dur-
ing the first decade of the New Or-
der regime.
ASEAN served the regime’s
priorities by fostering greater re-
gional resilience from great pow-
er rivalry that was vital to the pur-
suit of national resilience.
National development and
political cohesion were depen-
dent upon a level of regional sta-
bility. ASEAN suited Indonesia’s
interests.
But today ASEAN is unable to
muster sufficient unity to play
the role of regional manager the
way it once did. It is ASEAN, and
not Indonesia, that has under-
gone the greater changes in re-
cent years. Jakarta’s core inter-
ests over the last half-century
remain largely the same: the de-
velopment of national resilience.
EU cannot dictate in agricultural affairs:
Agriculture Minister
A
griculture Minister Amran
Sulaiman has reaffirmed
Indonesia’s refutation of
the European Parliament’s
insulting accusation against on the
country as published in its “Report
on Palm Oil and Deforestation of
Rainforests.”
“I would like to affirm that we do
not accept nor are perturbed by the
accusation,” the minister said.
In its report, the European
Parliament claimed that Indonesia’s
palm oil industry was rife with
corruption, the exploitation of
underage workers, human rights
violations and the deprivation of
indigenous people’s rights. “All these
allegations are far-fetched, vile and
unacceptable,” the minister said after
making an opening speech at the
Indonesian Farmers Association’s
(HKTI) leadership meeting in Jakarta
on April 10.
Furthermore, the minister explained
that Indonesia had several reasons to
feel unperturbed by the allegations and
would continue to champion its palm
oil products.
First, Indonesia is focused on
community welfare efforts for oil palm
farmers in preventing deforestation.
Indonesia’s palm oil industry is a
massive industry involving 11.9 million
hectares of plantations, 41 percent
of which are owned by smallholder
farmers. No less than 16 million
farmers and between 30 million and
40 million Indonesians are involved in
the upstream and downstream sectors
of the palm oil industry. These 30 to 40
million individuals are members of local
communities that need to be protected
and their welfare improved. Indonesia
will prioritize the development and
welfare of local communities that rely
on palm oil for a livelihood.
If their welfare drops due
to plummeting palm oil prices,
deforestation will increase. This is
because the farmers would need
additional income to make ends meet.
In order to control deforestation,
Indonesia has made many efforts to
improve smallholder farmers’ palm
oil productivity and to help the
downstream industry improve added
value and maintain the price of palm oil
in the global market.
Second, Indonesia has its own
Indonesia Sustainable Palm Oil
(ISPO) standards for sustainable palm
oil management. Palm oil and its
environment is rife with sensitive issues.
The Indonesian government under
President Joko Widodo is currently
campaigning for the sustainable
management of palm oil and other
land-based industries, as well as in
peatland and landscape management
in general.
Indonesia and Malaysia have agreed
on a palm oil industry standardization,
in which Malaysia has implemented
the Roundtable Sustainable Palm
Oil (RSPO). The synchronization and
harmonization of ISPO and RSPO have
been agreed upon by Indonesia and
Malaysia, which control more than 80
percent of global palm oil production
and trade.
President Joko “Jokowi” Wido-
do’s turn towards pragmatic bilat-
eralism is a symptom of ASEAN’s
struggles, not its cause.
The regional developments
that have hampered ASEAN uni-
ty have really come in the last de-
cade. This last ten years have seen
ASEAN’s ability to shield the re-
gion from great power rivalry
come under great strain.
It is in this period, around the
start of the Obama administra-
tion in 2009, that China began
to act more assertively towards
its territorial claims in the South
China Sea (SCS).
China has always loomed large
in the geopolitical reality for
Southeast Asian states. However
unlike during the Cold War, when
the region shared an ideology of
anti-communism, today China
appears differently to each mem-
ber of ASEAN’s expanded mem-
bership.
Representing a different sort of
threat or opportunity to Cambo-
dia and Laos as it does to the Phil-
ippines and Vietnam. Indonesia is
no exception.
These differences have made
the principle of consensus in
ASEAN decision-making an al-
most insurmountable obsta-
cle and as a result the grouping
has found itself floundering in re-
cent years.
A regional Code of Conduct on
the SCS between ASEAN and Chi-
na, to cement the 2002 Declara-
tion on Conduct, has remained an
elusive goal. Differences over how
to address the SCS threatened to
see the grouping’s first failure to
Regarding the issue of indigenous
peoples and their wealth of
local customs, the Joko Widodo
administration has paid special attention
to them. The government has given
rights over customary land to indigenous
people. This is an ongoing process. The
European Parliament’s claims regarding
customary rights and human rights in its
resolution are baseless.
Third, Indonesia’s palm oil exports
to Europe are only 21.77 percent of the
country’s total palm oil exports. In 2015,
Indonesia exported a total of 32.5 million
tons of palm oil valued at US$17.36
billion. Data from the Agriculture
Ministry’s information and data center
shows that Indonesia exports palm oil
to 139 countries. The 10 biggest palm oil
export destinations based on volume is
India, China, the Netherlands, Pakistan,
Malaysia, Italy, New Zealand, Egypt,
Bangladesh and Spain.
India is the biggest importer of
Indonesian palm oil. The South Asian
country imported 5.89 million tons of
Indonesian palm oil valued at US$3.345
billion. At second place was China with
4.493 million tons of palm oil valued
at US$2.526 billion. At third place was
the Netherlands with 3.167 million tons
valued at US$1.043 billion (Table 1).
Table 1:
10 Largest Export Destinations of Indonesian Palm Oil Based on
Volume in 2015
No Destination
Country
Volume (Kg)
1 India 5,890,434,187.00
2 China 4,493,018,479.00
3 Netherlands 3,167,966,427.00
4 Pakistan 2,345,358,267.00
5 Malaysia 1,480,357,622.00
6 Italy 1,206,226,103.00
7 New Zealand 1,169,056,505.00
8 Egypt 1,156,317,439.00
9 Bangladesh 1,142,956,504.00
10 Spain 1,014,878,270.00
The value of Indonesian palm oil
exported to European countries was
only US$3.3 billion for a volume of 7.084
million tons, or only 21.77 percent of
Indonesia’s global palm oil exports.
The three largest European export
destinations for Indonesian palm oil are
the Netherlands, Italy and Spain.
Indonesia exported 3.168 million tons
of palm oil to the Netherlands valued
at US$1.043 billion, 1.206 million tons
of palm oil to Italy valued at US$719
million and 1.015 million tons of palm
oil to Spain valued at US$584 million.
As Europe is not the largest market for
Indonesian palm oil, the government
should not be worried about the state
of Indonesia’s palm oil market. India,
China, Pakistan and other Central Asian
countries remain the markets with the
largest potential for Indonesian palm oil.
It also needs to be noted that Europe
is currently highly dependent on
Indonesian palm oil to run its biodiesel
20 (B20) program. Europe needs a total
of 7 million tons of palm oil, 3 million
tons of which comes from Indonesia,
annually for the program. In the future,
Europe will need more palm oil annually
if it wishes to implement its biodiesel
30 (B30) program. We are certain that
Indonesia will play a huge role in the
global palm oil trade.
Fourth, the productivity and
efficiency of vegetable oil from oil
palm is significantly higher than that
produce a joint communique in
45 years in 2012.
Then foreign minister Marty
Natalegawa was just able to patch
things up in a now famous use of
shuttle diplomacy.
However, the dissonance be-
tween ASEAN member states
over how to deal with China has
only continued to deepen.
Last year in Vientiane, un-
der Laos’ chairmanship, Cambo-
dia continued to play the role of
spoiler and consensus was only
barely reached, resulting in a re-
markably watered down joint
statement on the SCS.
This in the wake of the Perma-
nent Court of Arbitration’s rul-
ing that China had “no historical
rights” to the waters under its in-
famous “nine-dash line.”
And more pertinently for In-
donesia, in the wake of three sep-
arate clashes with China in the
waters surrounding the Natuna
Islands.
Calls for Indonesia to re-assert
its “natural leadership” of ASEAN
came flowing from voices both in-
side and outside Indonesia post-
Vientiane.
However, ASEAN’s inability to
dissuade China has led regional
states to welcome a greater pres-
ence by the United States and its
allies. As a result, it increased the
very regional tensions and insta-
bility that Jakarta is so eager to
avoid, and with it diminishing the
strategic value of ASEAN for In-
donesia.
The restraint in Indonesia tak-
ing its “natural leadership” posi-
tion displayed since Jokowi took
office is a result of the discrepan-
cies between the administration’s
goals and what ASEAN has shown
itself able to deliver.
Jokowi is a practical president
of sunflower seeds and rapeseed.
Indonesia is unperturbed by the
European Parliament’s efforts to boycott
investment in Indonesian palm oil and
switch to sunflower and rapeseed oils.
This is because palm oil is an efficient
and highly productive vegetable oil with
a longer production lifespan compared
to other commodities. (Picture 1)
The oil palm is one of the most
productive sources of vegetable oil in
the world. Data released by Oil World
(2013) reveals that one hectare of oil
palm plantation is able to produce an
average of 4 tons of palm oil per annum,
far exceeding soybean, sunflower seeds
and rapeseed.
Average oil
yield (tons 5
per hectare
per year)
4 From the data and facts, it is
3 irrational for the European Parliament
2
0
Soybean Sunflower Rapeseed Oil Palm
Figure 1
Oil Palm Efficiency vs Other Major Oil Crops
Source: Oil World 2013
Figure 1. Comparison in efficiency of
soybean, sunflower seeds, rapeseed and oil
palm in the production of vegetable oil.
The same data reveal that the
Value (US$)
3,345,681,632.00
2,526,871,764.00
1,043,095,642.00
1,326,270,269.00
897,805,949.00
719,089,549.00
107,630,674.00
688,783,797.00
681,466,204.00
583,666,962.00
level of land expansion for growing
oil palm is the lowest from the other
three vegetable-oil producing plants.
Data shows that in the 1965-2013
period, soybean was the vegetable oil-
producing plant with the highest level
of land expansion, which reached 85.45
million hectares. In 1965, the land used
for planting soybean was only 25.82
million ha, while in 2013 the area used
for soybean plantation reached 111.27
million ha.
Table 2. Changes in total area of plantations of the world’s main
vegetable oil-producing plants (1965-2013)
Area (million ha)
Vegetable 1965 2013 Changes in 1965-2013 period
oil-producing plants
Soybean
Rapeseed
Sunflower
Palm oil
Source: Oil World (taken from http://paspimonitor.or.id/)
The table shows the expansion level
of oil palm plantation area is far below
that of soybean. Oil palm plantations
in 1965 measured 3.62 million ha. The
number increased to 17.01 million ha
in 2013. This shows that the expansion
level from 1965 to 2013 is 13.39 hectares.
Table 2 shows the expansion level of
vegetable oil-producing plantations in
the world from 1965 to 2013.
OPINION | 7
and his interests in developing
Indonesia into a “global maritime
fulcrum” require the free flow of
foreign direct investment from all
possible partners.
Its very realization is prefaced
on a competitive, but ultimately
peaceful, regional environment.
It is for this reason that the
ASEAN minus discourse over
how to save ASEAN has emerged
in recent years.
The ASEAN minus formula,
which loosens the strict require-
ment of consensus in ASEAN de-
cision-making, is already used in
the economics field to yield great-
er cooperation.
Advocates of ASEAN minus
seek to see this formula applied
to strategic issues, which will give
the grouping the freedom to up-
hold a regional order based upon
“the ASEAN way” when there are
difference of opinion between
members.
This reformulation may help
ASEAN save itself from itself and
offer a path back to it being at the
core of Indonesia’s international
relations.
For now however, ASEAN’s
place in Indonesian foreign poli-
cy has been changed to that of “a
cornerstone,” as former presiden-
tial adviser on foreign policy Rizal
Sukma stated to the US-Indone-
sia Society (USINDO) back in De-
cember 2014.
Only crucial and much needed
reform will give ASEAN back the
utility it has lost in the last de-
cade and restore it to the corner-
stone of Jakarta’s regional strate-
gic policy.
The writer is a PhD candidate in
international relations,
Flinders University.
Other data reveals that oil palm
is the most efficient vegetable oil-
producing plant. Of the 10 vegetable
oil-producing plants with a combined
area of 191 million ha, oil palm
plantations occupy only 10 percent.
Indonesia, the world’s largest palm oil
producer contributing 53 percent of
total global production, has only 11.9
million ha of oil palm plantations.
Yet, with a planting area of only 10
percent, oil palm contributes the most
from the other vegetable oil-producing
plants, with 41.0 percent, or around
62 million tons. Soybean plantations,
which occupy 58 percent of the total
vegetable oil-producing plantation
area, contributed 31 percent or around
47 million tons per annum.
to encourage bigger investment in
Oil Seeds
sunflower and rapeseed and boycott
palm oil. Nevertheless, Indonesia is
confident that exports of palm oil and
its derivatives will remain stable, and
Indonesia has expressed its resolve
in the face of the resolution of the
European Parliament.
Fifth, the Indonesian government
is reviewing the inflow of fruits and
other commodities, including milk,
animal medication and pet food from
France. Based on the evaluation of
the implementation of Agriculture
Minister Regulation No.93/Permentan/
OT.140/12/2011 on the quarantine of
plants against pests (OPTK), revised
with Agriculture Minister Regulation
No.51/Permentan/KR.010/9/2015, and
with reference to a CABI publication
regarding the Mediterranean fruit
fly (Ceratitis capitata) in France, the
Indonesian government is reviewing
the inflow of fruits from France, which
can host the fruit fly. These fruits
include apples, grapes, oranges, pears,
plums, peaches and apricots, sent
from France on April 24, 2017 pending
the conclusion of an evaluation of the
spread of OPTK.
In relation to the review, Indonesia has
requested a report from the European
Union on the implementation of a
protected zone for countries within the
European Union where cases of Ceratitis
capitata have been reported, such as
Bulgaria, Bosnia Herzegovina, Croatia and
Greece. If a report on a protected zone
cannot be substantiated by the European
Union, Indonesia will stop the importation
of like produce from these countries.
In regard to this, the Indonesian
agriculture minister has instructed the
head of the Agricultural Quarantine
Agency to conduct a total evaluation
(million ha)
25.82 111.27 85.45
7.07 36.37 29.31
7.54 25.59 18.05
3.62 17.01 13.39
of the food security system and the
registration of laboratories in France,
the Netherlands, Belgium, Austria,
Germany, Russia, Italy and Spain. If
the result of the evaluation/specific
monitoring shows any discrepancy in
the fulfillment of the requirements,
there is a possibility that Indonesia will
Advertorial
revoke the acknowledgment of the
security system/registration assurance.
8 | SPORTS MONDAY April 17, 2017

PUTTING IT BRIEFLY
Paulinho warned over betting ad Double delight for Messi, Isco SCOREBOARD
Soccer

as Barca and Real win

HONG KONG: Former Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Paulinho has been EPL
asked by Chinese soccer authorities to end his involvement with an Results from the English Premier League
matches on Saturday
overseas betting company, urging all players in the Chinese Super Crystal Palace 2 Leicester City 2
League to “be strict with their public image.” Everton 3 Burnley 1
Paulinho, who currently plays for CSL champions Guangzhou Ev- Rik Sharma Southampton 0 Manchester City 3
ergrande, featured in the advert for a Philippines-based gambling com- REUTERS/BARCELONA Stoke City 3 Hull City 1
Sunderland 2 West Ham 2
pany alongside Tsukasa Aoi, an actress and model who has appeared Tottenham 4 Bournemouth 0
in adult films in Ja Japan. Lionel Messi’s double strike Watford 1 Swansea City 0
helped Barcelona scrape a 3-2 vic-
Reuters/Andres Stapff

Gambling and pornography are illegal in China Francisco

and the Chines
Chinese Football Association (CFA) issued a tory over Real Sociedad on Satur- La Liga
“Isco” Results and standings from the La Liga
statement on SSaturday evening warning Paulinho day to keep the pressure on La Ligaa
Alarcon matches on Saturday
leaders Real Madrid, which need-

Reuters/Eloy Alonso
future behaviour.
about his futur Atletico Madrid 3 Osasuna 0
“Following an investigation, the representation ed a brace from Isco to beat Sport- Deportivo Coruna 2 Malaga 0
player’s own decision, and he has not
was the playe ing Gijon by the same scoreline. Barcelona 3 Real Sociedad 2
Sporting Gijon 2 Real Madrid 3
reported it to his club,” said the statement. A much-changed Madrid side P W D L F A Pts
“Guangzhou
“Gua Evergrande have criticized snatched victory at El Molinon 1 Real Madrid 31 23 6 2 82 33 75
Paulinho
Paulinh and asked him to stop the com- thanks to Isco’s two goals, which 2 Barcelona 32 22 6 4 91 30 72
mercial
mercia activities with the betting com- included a 90th-minute winner, 3 Atletico 32 19 8 5 59 24 65
4 Sevilla 31 18 7 6 56 39 61
pany immediately in order to put an end to stretch its lead over Barcelonaa 5 Villarreal 31 15 9 7 45 24 54
to an
any similar activities in the future. before the Catalans closed the gap
Paulinho
P joined Guangzhou from back down to three points at the Marcelo Serie A
Tottenham
Tott in a deal worth €14 million Nou Camp. Results and standings from the Serie A
matches on Saturday
(US$14.85 million) almost two years
(US Messi scored twice and set up of what happened before [defeats three minutes later with a bril- AS Roma 1 Atalanta 1
ago and since then the likes of Carlos a third for Paco Alcacer as Barce- by Malaga and Juventus]. We won liant individual goal. Cagliari 4 Chievo Verona 0
Tevez, Oscar and John Obi Mikel have
Teve lona saw off their Basque oppo- a game against a difficult oppo- Vesga looped a header over Fiorentina 1 Empoli 2
signed
signe for CSL clubs as the country seeks nents, who pressed them until the nent. I’m more than happy with Kiko Casilla to put the hosts back Genoa 2 Lazio 2
Inter Milan 2 AC Milan 2
to turn itself
its into a footballing power. end of a nervy encounter. the performance. We deserved to in front after halftime, but Alvaro Napoli 3 Udinese 0
The CFA said foreign citizens living in China The win, however, kept the Cat- win even though it was tricky.” Morata equalized with a headed Palermo 0 Bologna 0
Paulinho should comply with the country’s laws. — Reuters alans within touching distance of Messi put Barcelona ahead goal of his own, before Isco’s late Pescara 0 Juventus 2
Los Blancos, having played one with a low drive and doubled the winner. Sassuolo 2 Sampdoria 1
Torino 1 Crotone 1
match more, ahead of next Sun- lead with a tap-in after Luis Su- The Spain international said
Nice earns Champions League spot day’s Clasico. arez’s shot was saved, but Socie- that fighting until the very end 1 Juventus
P W D L F A
32 26 2 4 64 20
Pts
80
Barcelona coach Luis Enrique dad hit back when Inigo Marti- and snatching late victories are 2 AS Roma 32 23 3 6 70 27 72
NICE: OGC Nice guaranteed a top-three finish in Ligue 1 and remained was relieved to put a difficult week nez’s lashed effort bounced off part of the club’s fabric. 3 Napoli 32 21 7 4 75 33 70
firmly in the hunt for a first French title since 1959 when two second- behind him, after last weekend’s Samuel Umtiti into the Barcelona “This is the spirit of Madrid, we 4 Lazio 32 18 7 7 54 36 61
half goals from the outstanding Jean Seri inspired them to come from 2-0 loss to Malaga and Tuesday’s net. showed it and we did it,” he said. 5 Atalanta 32 18 6 8 53 35 60
behind to beat Nancy 3-1 at home on Saturday. bruising 3-0 reverse against Ju- Alcacer extended the Catalans’ “I had the luck of being the deci-
Bundesliga
Seri converted a penalty after the break and then scored late on as ventus in the Champions League. advantage before Xabi Prieto re- sive one and I’m here to help my Results and standings from the Bundesliga
Lucien Favre’s side up moved to 73 points in third place, ensuring they Despite its recent jitters, he is duced the deficit to 3-2 just before team mates.” matches on Saturday
will play in the Champions League next season. confident that his side can do well halftime, while the second half Atletico Madrid missed two Mainz 1 Hertha Berlin 0
It will be the first time it has played in the European Cup since 1959 in the reverse leg against the Ital- stayed goalless despite intense late penalties but still thrashed Leverkusen 0 Bayern Munich 0
Dortmund 3 Eintracht F 1
to 1960 and the win puts it four points behind leader Monaco and one ians and against Madrid in next pressure from the visitors. bottom of the table Osasuna 3-0 FC Augsburg 2 Cologne 1
point before second-place Paris St. Germain. weekend’s crucial title showdown Madrid endured a nervous at home with a brace from Yan- Hoffenheim 5 B. M’gladbach 3
Despite starting strongly, Nice’s defending let it down when Junior if it performs to its very best. game too, which was eventually nick Carrasco to stay third in the RB Leipzig 4 Freiburg 0
Dale capitalized on an error from Valentin Eysseric to open the scoring. “We have to be marvelous and settled by Isco at the death. table. VfL Wolfsburg 3 FC Ingolstadt 0
The home side was undeterred, equalizing nine minutes later when perfect,” he said. “The players Sporting opened the scoring in In the battle to avoid the drop, P W D L F A Pts
1 Bayern M 29 21 6 2 71 15 69
Younes Belhanda’s magnificent through ball found Mickael Le Bihan, need confidence to be at their best the 14th minute when Mikel Vesga Deportivo La Coruna beat Malaga 2 RB Leipzig 29 19 4 6 55 30 61
who span away from the defense and slotted home calmly past Guy and that’s what I’m trying to do as scooped a pass over Madrid’s de- 2-0 to move nine points clear of 3 Hoffenheim 29 14 12 3 56 31 54
N’Dy Assembe. the coach. fence which Duje Cop slammed the relegation zone, with Sporting 4 Dortmund 29 15 8 6 62 33 53
Nice went ahead in the 51st minute when the impressive Seri con- “It was a special week because home, and then Isco equalized Gijon still 18th, on 22 points. 5 Hertha Berlin 29 13 4 12 37 35 43
verted from the penalty spot after Dalbert was brought down and the
Ivorian midfielder sealed the win in the 84th minute with a sharp finish
after a swift counter-attack. — Reuters

SERIE A

Higuain brace takes

Juve closer to sixth
title in a row
Brian Homewood
REUTERS/MILAN
Gonzalo Higuain scored two
first-half goals to give Juventus
a 2-0 win at bottom club Pescara
which took it eight points clear at
the top of Serie A on Saturday and
closer to a sixth successive title.
Juventus was given a helping
hand by Atalanta which held sec-
ond-placed AS Roma to a 1-1 draw
at the Stadio Olimpico, adding
to an unhappy spell for the host
which has recently been knocked
out of the Europa League and
Italian Cup.
Third-placed Napoli edged to
within two points of Roma with a
3-0 win at home to Udinese.
Cristian Zapata scored with the
last kick of the game as AC Milan
hit back from two goals behind
to draw 2-2 with Inter in the der-
by, although only Europa League
places were at stake for the two
struggling giants.
Palermo drew 0-0 at home
to Bologna, ending a run of five
successive defeats, as Diego Bor-
toluzzi began his reign as its fifth
coach of the season. The visi-
tor played for more than an hour
with 10 men after Erick Pulgar
was sent off.
Juventus has 80 points with
Roma on 72 and Napoli 70. Milan
stayed sixth, the last of the Euro-
pa League spots, and two points
clear of seventh-placed Inter.
Higuain turned in Juan
Cuadrado’s cross to give Juventus
a 23rd-minute lead at Pescara and
he slid in the second just before
halftime after Mario Mandzukic
knocked the ball into his path.
Atalanta took a first-half lead
at Roma with Jasmin Kurtic’s vol-
ley before Mohamed Salah laid
Higuain again: Juventus’ Gonzalo Higuain scores during a Serie A
soccer match against Pescara, in Pescara, Italy, on Saturday. Juven-
tus won 2-0.
the ball off for Edin Dzeko to lev-
el soon after the interval with his
25th goal of the season.
Daniele De Rossi, with a bi-
cycle kick, and Radja Nainggolan
both hit the woodwork as Roma
pressed desperately for a winner.
“It’s not the time to throw the
toys out of the pram, nor is it a
great situation because we’ve
gone out of two cups,” said Roma
coach Luciano Spalletti. “If you
have the quality, ultimately some-
one has to take responsibility.”
“Every now and again, we go
into our shells and become over-
whelmed by doubt, which is what
happened in the first half.”
Napoli, the league’s top scor-
ers with 75 goals, broke through
against Udinese three minutes
into the second half when Dries
Mertens ran onto Jorginho’s
through ball and comfortably
beat Orestis Karnezis.
Midfielder Allan bullied Ali Ad-
nan off the ball before rifling in
the second in the 63rd minute, just
after Duvan Zapata hit the post
for Udinese, and Jose Callejon
added the third.
In the first Milan derby with
both teams under Chinese owner-
ship, Inter raced to a 2-0 halftime
lead thanks to goals from Antonio
Candreva and Mauro Icardi.
Alessio Romagnoli reduced the
arrears after 83 minutes as Mi-
lan complained about Inter time-
wasting and Zapata levelled seven
minutes into stoppage time.
Torino forward Andrea Belotti
won and converted a controver-
sial penalty against Crotone to
take his season’s tally to 25 and
stays level with Dzeko as Serie A’s
joint top-scorer, but Simy earned
the relegation-threatened visitor
a 1-1 draw.
AP/Claudio Lattanzio/ANSA
Team support: Borussia Dortmund players hold up Marc Bartra’s jersey as they celebrate after winning a Bundesliga soccer match against
Eintracht Frankfurt in Dortmund, Germany, on Saturday. Bartra was injured in a bomb attack on Dortmund’s team bus on April 11.
BUNDESLIGA
Reus boost for Dortmund after attack with 3-1 win in Germany
Ciaran Fahey
ASSOCIATED PRESS/BERLIN
Marco Reus scored two min-
utes into his comeback from a
torn ligament to set Borussia
Dortmund on its way to a 3-1 win
over Eintracht Frankfurt in the
Bundesliga on Saturday.
Reus’ return after six weeks
out was a welcome boost for a side
still struggling to deal with Tues-
day’s bomb attack on the team
bus in Dortmund in which de-
fender Marc Bartra was wounded.
“It was a great performance
of character that cannot be rat-
ed highly enough from my side,”
coach Thomas Tuchel said as
Dortmund consolidated fourth
place amid increased security.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang
EPL
Tottenham rolls on, now seek a helping hand
Martyn Herman
REUTERS/LONDON
Tottenham Hotspur remained
a worrying presence in Chelsea’s
rearview mirror after a second
successive 4-0 victory cut the gap
in the Premier League title race to
four points on Saturday.
Bournemouth became the 12th
consecutive side to leave White
Hart Lane empty-handed as Har-
ry Kane hit the 20 league goal
mark for the third season in a row
with his side’s third.
Long-time leader Chelsea is
away at Manchester United on
Sunday for what looks the tough-
est fixture of its run-in.
“We got the three points and
now the pressure is on Chelsea to
win in Old Trafford,” Tottenham
manager Mauricio Pochettino
said. “It would be fantastic if to-
sent the ball forward and Chris-
tian Pulisic looked up before pull-
ing the ball back for Reus to score
with his heel.
“Gol!!!!!” said Bartra on Twit-
ter. The Spanish defender, who
had an operation after injuries
to his hand and arm, was able to
watch the game at home follow-
ing his release earlier after four
nights in the hospital.
Marco Fabian equalized inside
the half-hour mark with a bril-
liant strike in off the top of the
post from 25 meters, but Sokra-
tis Papastathopoulos restored
the home side’s lead in spectacu-
lar fashion a little more than five
minutes later.
Sokratis, a defender, wrong-
footed one of his counterparts
with a dummy and let fly inside
morrow night, after the game, the
gap is still four points. But four
points is still a lot.”
With only two of their last six
matches at home Tottenham is
still rank outsider to snatch a first
title since 1961.
Manchester City moved above
Liverpool into third after it reg-
istered an impressive 3-0 win
away at Southampton, with cap-
tain Vincent Kompany on the
scoresheet.
Kompany’s impassioned cel-
ebration, following his 55th-min-
ute opener, told the story of what
has been two injury-hit seasons
for the inspirational Belgian de-
fender.
“I don’t really complain about
what’s happened to me, I just car-
ry on,” Kompany, whose goal was
his first since August 2015, told
BT Sport.
the far post.
Reus, who was busy through-
out the first half, was taken off at
the break with a view to the sec-
ond leg of the Champions League
quarterfinal in Monaco next
Wednesday.
“Just a precaution,” said Dort-
mund, which lost the postponed
first leg 3-2 one day after the
bomb blasts.
Ousmane Dembele, who came
on for Reus, set up Aubameyang
to seal it late on a counterattack.
It took Aubameyang’s tally to
a league-leading 26 goals, level
with Bayern Munich’s Robert
Lewandowski.
Afterward, Dortmund players
held up a Bartra jersey in front of
the Westfalenstadion’s south stand,
where fans chanted his name.
“When this happens I feel I’m
giving something back to the fans.
I’m finally giving something back
to the team and that’s what you
see in that moment.”
Leroy Sane and Sergio Aguero
— with his 11th goal in 11 games in
all competitions — were also on
the scoresheet.
In the title run-in, Chelsea
must still also visit Everton which
racked up an eighth successive
home win when beating Burn-
ley 3-1 to move above Arsenal
and United into fifth, albeit hav-
ing played more games than the
teams around them.
Premier League top scorer
Romelu Lukaku struck Everton’s
third, taking his season tally to 24.
Since losing to Liverpool on
Feb. 11 Tottenham has won seven
games in a row — its best top flight
sequence for 50 years — scoring
Reuters/Ralph Orlowski
“An emotional moment,”
Tuchel said.
With regulars rested for Tues-
day’s Champions League quarter-
final against Real Madrid, Bundes-
liga leader Bayern dropped points
for the eighth time.
Bayern leads second-placed
Leipzig by eight points.
Bayern next travels to Madrid,
where it needs to overturn a 2-1
defeat in the first leg.
Yussuf Poulsen scored one and
set up Timo Werner in the first
half, before Naby Keita and Diego
Demme made sure in the second
as Leipzig kept its charge toward
the Champions League going.
It was the promoted side’s
19th win from 29 games, keep-
ing it second with five matches
remaining.
22 and leaking only four.
A week after beating Watford
4-0, having also kicked off before
Chelsea, it produced another dis-
play oozing confidence with Mou-
sa Dembele and Son Heung-Min
scoring inside the first 20 min-
utes and Kane striking just after
halftime.
Kane is the fourth player to
score 20 or more goals in the Pre-
mier League three seasons in a
row, joining Thierry Henry, Alan
Shearer and Ruud van Nistelrooy.
Three days before taking on At-
letico Madrid in its Champions
League quarterfinal, seeking to
overturn a 1-0 deficit from the first
leg, Leicester was involved in a rip-
roaring duel at Selhurst Park.
Goals by Robert Huth and Ja-
mie Vardy put it 2-0 ahead but
Palace hit back through Yohan
Cabaye and Christian Benteke.
MONDAY April 17, 2017
Cavaliers edge
Pacers as NBA
playoffs begin
Associated Press
CLEVELAND
LeBron James scored 32 points
and the defending champion
Cleveland Cavaliers, looking to
flip the switch after a shaky regu-
lar season, began the NBA play-
offs by escaping with a 109-108
victory over the Indiana Pacers
on Saturday in Game 1.
Playing in his 200th playoff
game, James added 13 assists and
six rebounds while winning his
18th consecutive first-round game.
However, it was anything but
easy as the Cavs had to withstand
a strong comeback by the Pacers,
who could have stolen the open-
er but CJ Miles missed a 14-foot
jumper in the final second.
Kyrie Irving added 23 points
and Kevin Love had 17 for Cleve-
land, which has won 12 straight
playoff games at home.
Paul George scored 29 points
and Lance Stephenson had 16 for
the seventh-seeded Pacers, who
will try to even the series on Mon-
day night.
George had the ball in his
hands on the final possession,
but the Cavs double-teamed him,
forcing him to pass to Miles, who
has always shot well against his
former team. His shot was on line,
but short and the Cavs survived a
disastrous final few minutes.
Giannis Antetokounmpo
scored 28 points and rookie Mal-
colm Brogdon had 16 as the Mil-
waukee Bucks beat the Toronto
Raptors 97-83 in Game 1 of the
first-round series.
Playing in his second career
BADMINTON
Time for Praveen, Debby to take lead: Coach
The Jakarta Post
JAKARTA
Seeing all five of his mixed pairs
failing in the Singapore Open has
provided coach Richard Mainaky
with the wakeup call to speed up
Indonesia’s regeneration process
in badminton.
With a lack of feasible names
to choose from, his best chance is
to push 2016 All England winners
Praveen Jordan and Debby Sus-
anto to take the lead.
Praveen and Debby are the
country’s second favorite
pair, who are set to follow
the path of 2016 Olym-
pic gold medalists Ton-
towi Ahmad and Liliya-
Sergio Garcia finally masters a major win at Augusta
The bitter sweet cliché that ac-
complished PGA Tour players of-
ten get labeled with is “best player
not to have won a major champi-
onship.” Until the completion
of the 81st Masters (Augusta Na-
tional, par 72) the crown prince
of such a designation was none
other than the sometimes child-
ish Spaniard Sergio Garcia.
Garcia burst onto the scene at
the age of 19 when he challenged
the legendary Tiger Woods at the
PGA Championship in 1999 and
finished 2nd to Woods. Now al-
most two decades later at 37, Gar-
cia had amassed a stellar resume
with 30 worldwide professional
wins, nine on the PGA Tour and
13 on the European Tour. This
included winning the prestigious
Players Championship in 2008.
Toronto.
Joe Johnson drove the
lane and lifted in a shot at
the buzzer, and Utah over-
came the loss of Rudy Gob-
ert 17 seconds into the
game to beat Los Ange-
les 97-95 in their playoff
opener.
Johnson had 21 points,
including when he was
left isolated against Ja-
mal Crawford on the fi-
nal play. He powered his
way inside and lofted a
shot over Crawford and
DeAndre Jordan that
bounced around the
rim before falling in. A
Smooth: Cleveland Cavaliers’ video review confirmed
LeBron James dunks in the second it was good.
quarter against the Indiana Pacers Gobert sprained his
in game one of the first round of the left knee on the game’s
2017 NBA Playoffs at Quicken Loans first play when he
Arena in Cleveland, Ohio, the United banged knees with
States on Saturday. The Cavaliers Clippers forward
won 109-108. Luc Mbah a Moute,
leaving the Jazz with-
playoff series, Antetekounmpo out their center who averaged 14.0
made 13 of 18 shots, and added points and 12.8 rebounds during
eight rebounds and three assists. the regular season.
Greg Monroe added 14 points. Utah steadied itself behind two
DeMar DeRozan led Toronto veterans brought in to balance
with 27 points, and Serge Ibaka the inexperienced Jazz. John-
had 19 points and 14 rebounds. son came up big off the bench and
The Raptors have lost the open- George Hill added 16 points.
ing game in eight consecutive Blake Griffin scored 26 points
playoff series. and Chris Paul added 25 points
Toronto’s Kyle Lowry made and 11 assists for the Clippers.
only two of 11 field-goal attempts, Kawhi Leonard matched his
missing all six 3-point efforts, and postseason high with 32 points
finished with four points. Jonas and San Antonio routed Memphis
Valanciunas had nine points and 111-82 in Game 1.
nine rebounds. LaMarcus Aldridge had 20
Game 2 is Tuesday night in points, and Tony Parker added 18
na Natsir.
The latter pair seem to have
passed their peak, which they
reached during their Olympic vic-
tory.
“After the Olympics, Tontowi
and Liliyana need much time to
recover,” Richard said in a state-
ment.
“I think it is time for Praveen Courtesy of badmintonindonesia.org
and Debby to take the baton from Richard Mainaky
Tontowi and Liliyana,” added the
former men’s doubles specialist. second round, while Praveen and
In the Singapore Open, which Debby were defeated in the quar-
ended on Sunday, Richard saw terfinals.
qualifiers Ronald Alexander and Richard said that Praveen’s and
Melati Daeva Oktaviani defeat- Debby’s failure over the week-
ed in their first match. Second- end made him realize some-
seeded Tontowi and Liliyana, as thing. Their loss was not due to
well as Alfian Eko Prasetya and technical issues, explained the
Annisa Saufika, meanwhile, coach, who won the
were ousted in the first round. 1996 Olym-
Irfan Fadhillah and Weni pic men’s
Anggraini lost in the
Courtesy of PBSI
conspired against him after losing
FROM to Padraig Harrington in a playoff
THE PGA TOUR at the 2007 Open Championship.
Garcia remarked: “I don’t know.
I’m playing against a lot of guys
out there, more than the field.”
Over the last 10 years Garcia’s
Dale Dhillon been infamous for missing short
THE JAKARTA pressure putts in the heat of bat-
POST/AUGUSTA tle in major championships.
Not anymore!
But until his unexpected On April 9, a day that would
breakthrough at the 81st Masters, have been the 60th birthday of the
Garcia was definitively the hard legendary, late Spanish golfer Seve
luck poster boy for near misses Ballesteros, Garcia turned into a
in major championships. He had matador with his putter to capture
finished 2nd four times and 3rd the green jacket of the Masters.
once as well as in the top 10, an as- When asked if he had thought
tounding 22 times since 1999. about Ballesteros that day Gar-
Much to the collective dismay cia commented: “It definitely
of the golf world he once com- popped in my mind a few times.
mented that fate somehow had There’s no doubt about it. Obvi-
SPORTS | 9
PUTTING IT BRIEFLY
Sharapova blames ITF over ban
BENGALURU: Five-time grand slam champion Maria Sharapova has
criticized the International Tennis Federation (ITF) for not doing enough
to make her aware that meldonium had been added to the list of
banned substances last year.
Sharapova’s initial two-year suspension was reduced to 15 months
after she tested positive at the 2016 Australian Open for meldonium,
a medication the Russian had been taking within the rules but which
was then reclassified as a banned drug.
Meldonium was added to the World Anti-Doping Agency list of
banned substances at the start of 2016 after mounting evidence that it
boosted blood flow and enhanced performance.
“Why didn’t someone come up to me and have a private conversa-
tion, just an official to an athlete, which would have taken care of the
confidentiality problem they talked about later?” the 29-year-old said
in an interview with The Times.
Sharapova did, however, say that she had become “complacent”
and was responsible for failing the drug test.
“Ultimately the fault was mine,” she added. “I had been getting
clearance on everything I was taking for seven years and I became
complacent.”
Sharapova is due to return to competitive action at the Stuttgart
Grand Prix which starts on April 24. — Reuters
Thompson enjoys fast start to season
Reuters/USA Today Sports/David Richard
KINGSTON: Double Olympic sprint champion Elaine Thompson cruised
to a wind-assisted 10.75 seconds to win the 100 metres at Jamaica’s
UTECH Classic on Saturday.
Thompson, who became the first Caribbean woman to win the
Olympic 100 m and 200 m double in Rio last summer, comfortably
pulled away to cross the line ahead of Jura Levy (11.19) and Olympic
finalist Christania Williams (11.30).
Thompson said she was surprised to run the time so early in the
season.
“Actually when I heard the time announced I was shocked but as I
say, each time I race I always surprise myself,” she told Reuters.
“Honestly there was no plan coming in, I just wanted to work on
the first 30 metres of my race because that is kind of my weak area.
to help San An- So I just wanted to execute.”
tonio win its ninth In the men’s 100 m, 2011 world champion Yohan Blake stumbled
straight over Mem- from the starting block and Britain’s Zharnel Hughes took full advan-
phis in the postsea- tage, coming home in a wind-aided personal best 10.08.
son. Olympic and world championship 400 m bronze medallist Shericka
Marc Gasol had 32 Jackson clocked a personal best of 22.57 to win the 200, the second
points, but only seven in the sec- fastest time in the world behind the 22.29 run by Dafne Schippers.
ond half as the Grizzlies fell be- Williams shaved 27 hundredths of a second offer her previous best.
hind by as many as 36 points. Mike Miguel Francis, who has switched allegiance to Britain from Antigua,
Conley was the only other Griz- won the men’s race in 20.44 ahead of Jamaica’s Commonwealth
zlies player in double figures, fin- Games champion Rasheed Dwyer (20.45). — Reuters
ishing with 13.
Memphis was without defen-
sive lynchpin Tony Allen. He’s out
indefinitely with a calf injury, and GOLF
Leonard took advantage for his
fourth career playoff game of 30-
plus points. Cristie Kerr wins LPGA Lotte
Game 2 is Monday night in San
Antonio. in Hawaii for 19th tour title
Associated Press Jang had a 70 to drop into a tie
KAPOLEI, HAWAII for second with top-ranked Lyd-
ia Ko (64) and In Gee Chun (67).
Cristie Kerr won the LPGA
Lotte Championship on Saturday
for her 19th tour title, closing with
a 6-under 66 for a three-stroke
Jang’s first bogey of the week
came at No. 6 and she suffered
double-bogey two holes later, fall-
ing into a tie for first with Kerr.
victory. Canadian Alena Sharp, looking
doubles gold medal with Ricky The 39-year-old Kerr broke the for her first LPGA Tour win in her
Subagja. tournament record at 20-under 241st start, bogeyed the final hole
“[They lost] because Praveen 268, a day after shooting 62 at Ko for a 70 to finish alone in fifth at
and Debby had been training in- Olina to match the event mark. 16 under, a shot ahead of second-
consistently. This is something I She earned US$300,000 to top ranked So Yeon Ryu (67).
have to work on. I have to create [a $18 million in her career. Third-ranked Ariya Juta-
better] training program for them Kerr had not won in 30 starts nugarn (69) and Stacy Lewis (6)
as they are ready to replace Ton- since the season-ending CME were 14 under.
towi and Liliyana,” Richard said, Group Tour Championship in Ko was too far back to really
conceding that over the past year 2015. She was a pedestrian 4 un- challenge Kerr.
and a half, he had been too busy der halfway through Lotte, then “Going into the day eight shots
preparing for the 2016 Olympics. made a made a big move. She behind there is a huge differ-
“The [Olympic Games] forced birdied seven of the last eight ence between eight shots and five
me to set aside our young players holes Friday, soaring into con- shots,” Ko said.
as they only did their usual rou- tention with the 62 and growing Kerr, who was a rookie the year
tines. As a result, they failed at the
tin comfortable walking in her birdie Ko was born, has Top 10s in her
Singapore Open. I really need to
Sin putts before they fell in the hole. last three starts.
start working harder,” he added.
sta “People think that I do it inten- She has four Top 10s at
Indonesia’s
I newest favorite tionally,” she said. “It never hap- Lotte, and is the second
pair, Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo
pai pens when I try to do it intention- American to win
and Marcus Fernaldi Gideon, end- ally. It’s just that once I know it’s in the tourna-
ed their winning streak when they in, I walk after it.” ment’s six
were defeated by Mathias Boe and
we Kerr called it “epic” and began years here,
AP/Cindy Ellen Russell/The Star-Advertiser
Carsten Mogensen of Denmark in
Car to count the ways. She had com- after Ha-
the tournament’s semifinals. plications with knee surgery in waii’s Mi-
KKevin and Marcus, who won November, keeping her from hit- chelle Wie.
three consecutive Super Series ti-
thr ting a shot for eight weeks, and Kerr also
tles before Singapore, lost the bat- from playing the first tournament is the
tle due to fatigue, they said. of the year. second
““Despite the loss, we are satis- “It feels so good to have over- Ameri-
fied with our overall performance come so many things to be sitting can to
in tthe past year,” Kevin added. here,” Kerr said. “I played great win on the
the last couple weeks coming into LPGA Tour
here, and I just have a different this year.
Heavy duty: Indonesia’s mixed
He perspective on life now. I felt it on
doubles pair, Praveen Jordan
dou the golf course today. I was able
(left) and Debby Susanto, gesture
(lef to keep going forward because I
to eeach other during their Sin- didn’t put that extra pressure on
gapore Open badminton match
gap Cristie Kerr
myself.”
against Malaysian Mohamad
aga The American overcame spon-
Arif Abdul Latif and Indonesian
A sor invite Su-yeon Jang, the South
Rusydina Antardayu Riodin- Korean player who led after the
gin on April 12. Praveen and second and third rounds and was
Debby were stopped in the five ahead of Kerr after three
quarterfinal round. holes Saturday.
ously today a couple of times here board. He was only joined by Eng- and landed in pine straw behind a
and there. And I’m sure he helped lishman Justin Rose who posted a magnolia tree. Garcia hit a mar-
a little bit with some of those spectacular 5 under par 67 to move velous 2nd shot on to the green,
shots or some of those putts.” to 6 under as well. 2 meters from the pin. Rose was
Garcia was 6 strokes behind Garcia was rock solid in Sun- forced to punch out and land-
leader Charley Hoffman (-7) af- day’s final round through Augus- ed about 5 meters to the right of
ter the 1st round shooting a 1 under ta National’s challenging front 9 the pin on his 3rd shot. After Rose
par 71 in windy conditions. He fol- holes birdieing the 1st and 3rd to missed his par putt, Garcia had 2
lowed that up with a spectacular move to 8 under at the turn keep- putts to win the Masters. Like the
3 under par 69 to move to 4 un- ing pace with Rose at 8 under as true major champion he always
der for the event in equally har- well. Garcia faltered early on the promised to be Garcia sunk his
rowing and gusty conditions. He back 9 with bogeys on 10 and 11. birdie putt to complete jubilation
found himself tied with the Amer- He then steadied his ship with and victory at the 81st Masters.
ican Hoffman who had faltered a birdie on 14 and a spectacular A delighted Garcia responded
somewhat and shot a 3 over par 75. eagle on the par 5, 15th to match when asked about his past label
Joining this duo on top of the lea- Rose’s 3 under par 69. as the best player not to have won
derboard also at 4 under par were Both men were now at 9 under a major: “Well, I don’t have to an-
the American Rickie Fowler and par and headed to a playoff to de- swer that anymore. Now I’ll have
Belgium’s Thomas Pieters. Sergio’s cide the champion. Garcia drove to answer, I don’t know if I’ll be the
steady play continued in round 3 aggressively on to the fairway on best player to have only won one
when he shot a strong 70 to get to 6 the first playoff hole, the par 4 18th. major. [To the sound of laughter]
under par at the top of the leader- Rose, unfortunately, missed right but I can live with that [smiling].”
10 | MONDAY April 17, 2017

AROUND THE REGION Neck high

Despite clash, Easter in PH ‘peaceful’
PHILIPPINES: Despite the firefight between government forces and
members of the bandit Abu Sayyaf Group last week, Philippine Na-
tional Police (PNP) Director General Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa on Easter
Sunday said the country’s commemoration of the Holy Week was
“uneventful” and “generally peaceful.”
In his Easter message, Dela Rosa assured the public that security
measures remain in place as travelers who went home to the prov-
inces for the short break return to the metropolis.
“As the nation culminates the traditional Holy Week retreat, police
security forces remain in their posts to provide assistance and public
safety services to travelers returning to their homes in the urban cen-
ters,” Dela Rosa said in a statement.
Dela Rosa also lauded the military and police force for “success-
fully thwarting” a terrorist attempt last week, in a firefight that left six
suspected Abu Sayyaf members dead, including leader and subcom-
mander Abu Rami.
“Earlier on Holy Tuesday, military and police security forces success-
fully thwarted an attempt by terrorist elements to disrupt an otherwise
peaceful and meaningful observance of Holy Week in Bohol,” he said.
“[Security forces] continued to implement rigid security measures in
transport terminal, convergence areas and places of worship to main-
tain order and security.” — ANN/Daily Inquirer

Operation unearths Labor Law violations

Reuters/Erik De Castro
BRUNEI: Labor Enforcement Division under the Labor Department Residents are pictured with their bodies covered in sand at the beach as they celebrate Easter Sunday in Tanza, Philippines.
recently carried out checks on 22 workers (16 foreigners and six locals)
in Operasi Rombak 37/2017, and found numerous violations to the
Labor Law.
Eleven officers from the Labor Enforcement Division and Office of
Labor branch (Belait) were involved in the Thursday operation target-
ing the telecommunication businesses and restaurants.
Officers discovered cases of foreign employment license misuse
and instances where employees were not given day offs during public
holidays, no overtime payment and late payment of salaries.
PH workers abroad take
For the offence of working a job different from what is stated in the
foreign employment license, action will be taken against the employ-
ers by terminating or reducing the employer’s employment quota.
The employee’s working pass will be terminated, with the employee
repatriated.
risks to help families
Eunice Barbara C. Novio 4,000 of 17,192 Filipinos Detention Centre (IDC) in Suan Under IOM policy, Belmon-
With regard to workers’ welfare neglect, the department will not in Thailand undocumented Phlu. The Filipino community te was given an Assisted Volun-
ANN/THE NATION/BANGKOK
hesitate to take stern action on the responsible individuals. in Bangkok raised cash for her tary Return (AVVR) instead of
The Labor Department cautioned the public against misusing the While ASEAN has liberated the ASEAN expected to airfare and she was deported on the “Bali process,” as she was not
foreign workers’ employment permit. Those caught employing a for- free flow of skilled workers in the finalize declaration on March 28. a victim of trafficking. She was
eign worker without a permit from the Commissioner of Labor will be region and is considering human protection of migrant The Philippines’ Department of given a $200 cash grant and will
charged under Chapter 112 (1) of the Employment Order 2009. rights protection for migrants, Social Welfare and Development be given a reintegration fund of
The offence carries a fine of not less than US$6,000 and not exceed-
workers’ rights
Filipino workers have found (DSWD), through its Social Wel- $1,000 for livelihood or vocation-
ing $10,000, or a prison sentence of not less than six months and not themselves under threat of law fare Attaché Office, has provided al/technical training.
more than three years, or both. enforcement in Thailand. baht (US$2,745) each for work- Mabansay with assistance, includ- Secretary Taguiwalo promised
Members of the public can contact the Labor Enforcement Division The Kingdom has used mil- ing without permission. The next ing funds for incidental expenses that the DSWD would assist in-
at 2381848 to provide information on suspected misuse of foreign lions of legal and illegal migrant day, their employer and a lawyer when she returned to her family in dividuals who will go back to the
workers’ employment permits. — ANN/Borneo Bulletin workers from the region. Under from the United Arab Emirates Iriga City, 400 kilometers south- Philippines once they have served
the ASEAN community, Bang- embassy arrived, but were unable east of Manila. their sentence. She also visited
kok welcomes skilled workers, to help the two Filipinas. On Jan. In a letter from the Philippine the prisoners on March 31.
while agreements with immediate 12, the two women were taken to Overseas Labor Office, Under- There are 17,921 Filipinos in
MONUMENT DEFILING neighbors, including Cambodia, court to hear the charges against secretary Joel Maglunsod said Thailand and an estimated 4,000
Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam, have them, and bail was set at 50,000 Belmonte and Mabansay had no are considered irregular or un-
Plaque of Thai revolution seen millions of unskilled laborers
allowed to work in Thailand.
baht each.
Belmonte and Mabansay were
Thai employment record in the
database of the Philippine Over-
documented.
The ASEAN Summit will be
But workers from the Philip- taken to Bangkok Women’s Cor- seas Employment Agency. De- held in the Philippines on April 28
removed, prompting outcry pines have different stories. On
Jan. 10 this year, Jean Marie Bel-
rectional Institution in Klong
Prem Central Prison. Belmonte
spite working illegally, the DSWD
was firm in assisting the two. Sec-
to 29. It is expected that the draft
instruments on the ASEAN Dec-
monte, 29, and Lilia Bercasio Ma- was able to post bail with the help retary Judy Taguiwalo sought the laration on the Protection and
Reuters Ultra-royalist groups had pre- bansay, 45, were arrested by Thai of friends and released on Jan. 17. assistance of International Orga- Promotion of the Rights of Mi-
BANGKOK viously threatened to remove the immigration police on charges of She was supposed to go straight nization for Migration (IOM) for grants will be finalized.
plaque. working without labor permits to the airport for deportation, but Belmonte’s repatriation. Belmonte and Mabansay have
A plaque commemorating a Activists said that the plaque’s and for overstaying. was unable to pay the airfare, so Belmonte voluntarily returned been reunited with their families.
1932 coup in Thailand that saw removal was a bid by royalist con- Both Belmonte and Mabansay her passport was withheld by the to the Philippines from Bangkok But the increasing poverty in the
absolute monarchy abolished and servatives to rewrite history. had been working in a restaurant authorities until March 30. on April 4. IOM-Philippines met Philippines means there will be
democracy established has gone “This is another attempt to al- owned by an Emirati national in Mabansay spent the maximum her at the Ninoy Aquino Airport. more people like them who will
missing, police in Bangkok said ter the history of democracy in Bangkok’s Sukhumvit area. 48 days in prison before being She stayed one day at the DSWD take risks just to give a better life
on Saturday, prompting outcry this country,” Than Rittiphan, a They were told to pay 100,000 transferred to the Immigration shelter after receiving counselling. to their loved ones.
from pro-democracy activists. member of the student-led New
The 1932 coup, also known as Democracy Movement which has
the Siamese Revolution, was a protested against military rule,
crucial turning point in Thai his- told Reuters. COUNTERTERRORISM
tory and ended nearly seven cen- “It is nothing more than fascist
turies of absolute monarchy, pav-
ing the way for political and social
rhetoric aimed at brainwashing
the next generation,” he said. Foiled attack staged by IS-linked extremists: PH
reforms. The government, led by Prime
Since then, Thailand has gone Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha, a
through a shaky experiment with former army chief and staunch Jim Gomez military and police forces in Bo- While considered a key com- Bohol, were guided to Inabanga’s
democracy and has witnessed a royalist, has stepped up prosecu- ASSOCIATED PRESS/MANILA hol thwarted “major terrorist mander and emerging leader of interior hinterlands by Joselito
succession of political protests tion of critics of the monarchy un- activities” by the militants, who Abu Sayyaf, Askali had also led Melloria, a convert to Islam. Mili-
and coups. der a harsh royal insult law. A foiled attack on a central were aiming to divert the mili- a hardline Abu Sayyaf faction tary officials believed he may have
Thailand has been governed by Rights groups say sensitivity Philippine resort island this week tary’s focus from intense offen- called the Marakat Ansar Bat- been designated to lead another
a junta since the latest coup, 2014, over any activity deemed as anti- was a kidnapping and bombing sives on the militants’ jungle en- talion, which is among 10 small IS-linked extremist band called
which saw the military overthrow monarchy has grown since King mission by at least three extrem- campments in southern Sulu armed groups that pledged alle- Ansar Khilafa Philippines had
a democratically elected govern- Maha Vajiralongkorn ascended ist groups affiliated with the Is- province and outlying islands. giance to IS about three years ago the Bohol attack been successful,
ment. the throne following the death of lamic State group in one of their “The persons who died in the and formed an IS-inspired alli- the officials said. The AKP group’s
The plaque, which was embed- his father, King Bhumibol Aduly- most daring terror plots, security area, some of whom have been ance in the southern Philippines. leader, Mohammad Jaafar Magu-
ded in a square in central Bang- adej, last year. officials said Saturday. identified to be known terror- Askali had been implicated in the id, was killed by Philippine coun-
kok, was removed and replaced Last week, the government an- The Philippine military ini- ists, are still the subject of a con- beheadings of two Canadian hos- terterrorism forces in southern
with a new one which highlights nounced a ban on all online in- tially said that government forces, tinuing investigation to ascertain tages last year and a German tour- Sarangani province in January.
the importance of the monarchy. teraction with three critics of the backed by airstrikes, successfully their participation,” Padilla said. ist in February in Sulu’s jungles, Melloria, who uses the nom de
“It is good to worship the Bud- junta who live abroad. detected and thwarted a kidnap- Interviews with three securi- the officials said. guerre Abu Alih and allowed the
dhist trinity, the state, one’s own King Vajiralongkorn signed a ping plot by Abu Sayyaf militants in ty officials, along with documents Aside from Askali, another key militants to stay at his Inabanga
family, and to be faithful to one’s military-backed constitution into the island province of Bohol, a pop- and pictures seen by The Associ- Sulu-based militant killed in Bo- home, was wounded in the Bohol
monarch and allow oneself to be law this month, a step toward an ular tourist destination far from the ated Press, indicated that three ex- hol was Edimar Isnain, who had fighting and escaped with sever-
the engine that brings prosper- election next year that the junta militants’ southern jungle bases. tremist groups that have pledged worked with Malaysian and In- al other militants, the three offi-
ity to the state,” the new plaque has said will restore democracy. Three soldiers, a policeman, allegiance to Islamic State (IS) de- donesian militants in assembling cials said.
reads. The new constitution is the two villagers and at least four mil- ployed their leading bombers and bombs and leading bomb-making It remains unclear what the
Police in the Dusit district 20th since the end of absolute itants, including key Abu Sayy- fighters, some of whom wore IS- training for recruits of Abu Sayyaf targets of the militants were, but
where the plaque was located said monarchy and critics say it will af commander and spokesman style black flag patches, for the Bo- and another violent group called Bohol draws foreign and local
they were not sure who removed give the military sway over poli- Moammar Askali, were killed in hol assault. Dawla Islamiya Ranao, also known tourists for its beach resorts, wa-
it and were investigating. tics for years to come. the daylong siege Tuesday in a The officials spoke on condi- as the Maute group, based in terfalls, caves and wildlife. Bohol
hinterland village in Bohol’s In- tion of anonymity because they southern Lanao del Sur province. island lies about 640 km south-
abanga town. were not authorized to disclose The militants, who traveled east of Manila and is about an
Military spokesman Brig. Gen. details of the ongoing investiga- from Sulu, more than 500 kilome- hour by boat from Cebu province,
Making a splash Restituto Padilla said combined tion of the foiled attack. ters by motor boat to the south of a trade and tourism center.

ILLEGAL LOGGING

Brunei fighting hard to protect forest

ANN/Borneo Bulletin
BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN
Deer is the prime target of
hunters while wood is the favorite
of encroachers of Brunei forests
that are rich in flora and fauna.
However, their movements
have been effectively restricted
with the ever-alert forest officials
thwarting every attempt to in-
trude into the wild with high-pre-
cision anti-poaching measures.
The country incurred loss-
es amounting to US$95,000 last
year due to forest poaching. Wood
stealing constituted the biggest
loss totaling $44,000 and this in-
Reuters/Soe Zeya Tun cludes the pricey agarwood worth
Children play with water during Myanmar’s New Year Water Festival $37,000 and mangrove products
outside Mandalay, Myanmar, on Thursday. worth $13,000.
According to Forestry Officer
at the Development and Forestry
Industry Management Reni bin
Haji Yahya, Forestry Department
officers, Ranger Police and other
government agencies conducted
174 forest patrols last year and 24
operations detected illicit activi-
ties in the Brunei forests.
Briefing agricultural and for-
estry entrepreneurs on Forest-
ry Act Chapter 46 of the Laws of
Brunei on Thursday, Reni said
four arrests were made last year
in connection with poaching. In
addition to loss of logs and man-
grove, chopping of trees to get the
ever-popular “Kelulut” (stingless
bees) is a major concern to the
Forestry Department, and last
year, losses amounting to $40,000
were recorded.
Reni said offences committed by
the public relating to forest include
encroaching forest reserves, chop-
ping trees without approval, taking
forestry products without permis-
sion, clearing forest without con-
sent, disposing rubbish in the for-
est, hunting animals and lighting
up fires inside the reserves.
“Cases of hunting for deer at
protected forests have been re-
ported and arrests have been
made in this connection. One
should not simply open up forest
for agricultural activities or rear-
ing livestock. Taking trees from
the forest needs permission from
the Forestry Department and
other relevant agencies,” he said.
Brunei Darussalam has gained
international acclaim for having
bio-rich tropical rainforests, the
majority of which are still in pris-
tine condition and protected by
effective legislation despite occu-
pying just one per cent of the total
forest in the island of Borneo.
Keeping up the spirit of the
Heart of Borneo Declaration,
Brunei has been effectively man-
aging its forest resources through
commendable conservation ef-
forts over the past years.
The Sultanate recently gar-
nered global recognition as one of
the top 10 countries in the world
with most protected areas. The
country took 7th place globally
with 44.1 percent of land desig-
nated as protected, according to
the latest World Bank report.
MONDAY April 17, 2017 WORLD | 11
AROUND THE WORLD
Flash floods kill 30 in northwest Iran
IRAN: The death toll in flash floods triggered by heavy rains in Iran’s
northwestern province of eastern Azarbaijan jumped to 30 as rescue
teams continue to discover bodies, state TV reported Saturday.
The report said that there are at least seven people still missing in
the cities of Ajabshir and Azarshahr. An earlier report Saturday morning
said 17 people had been killed.
The East Azarbaijan Governor’s Office of Crisis Management said that
“16 bodies were found in Ajabshir city and 14 in the city of Azarshahr.”
The report quotes Director General of Crisis Management in East
Azarbaijan province, Khalil Saei, as saying that Red Crescent workers,
air ambulances, police and army forces have been deployed to assist in
search and rescue efforts.
In September, at least 10 people were killed in flash flooding in
Tehran and Hormozgan provinces. — AP

20 killed as garbage collapses

SRI LANKA: The death toll from the collapse of a massive garbage
mound near Sri Lanka’s capital rose to 20 on Sunday, and residents
feared more victims could be buried underneath the debris.
Military spokesman Roshan Seneviratne said he did not know
whether anyone was still missing from the tragedy in Meetotamulla, a
town outside Colombo, the capital. Military personnel were still search-
ing the site and speaking to survivors to determine how many were
missing.
But a resident who identified himself only as Sanjaya said that he
and others were searching for three neighbors — an elderly man, his
AP/Lefteris Pitarakis daughter and granddaughter — who were buried under the collapse.
Mighty man: Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan enters a voting booth inside a polling station in Istanbul, Turkey, on Sunday, April Twelve people who were injured in the disaster remained in the
16. Turkish voters were casting their ballots Sunday in a historic referendum on whether to approve constitutional reforms that would hospital. The tragedy occurred Friday evening as people were celebrat-
greatly expand the powers of Erdogan. ing the local new year.
The site has been used to dump Colombo’s garbage for the past few
years as authorities sought to give the capital a face-lift. But residents
living in tiny homes in the area have protested against all the waste

Turks vote on expanding being dumped there because of health hazards.

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said Saturday that the govern-
ment would soon remove the garbage dump from the area. — AP

Erdogan’s power Mexican ex-Gov. detained in Guatemala

Tuvan Gumrukcu
and Humeyra Pamuk
REUTERS/ANKARA/ISTANBUL
Turks cast their votes in a ref-
erendum on Sunday that would
give sweeping new powers to
President Tayyip Erdogan and
herald the most radical change to
the country’s political system in
its modern history.
Opinion polls have shown
a narrow lead for a “Yes” vote,
which would replace Turkey’s
parliamentary democracy with
an all-powerful presidency and
may see Erdogan in office until at
least 2029.
The outcome will also shape
Turkey’s strained relations with
the European Union. The NATO
member state has curbed the flow
of migrants — mainly refugees
from wars in Syria and Iraq — into
the bloc but Erdogan says he may
review the deal after the vote.
A crowd chanted “Recep Tayy-
ip Erdogan” and applauded as
the president shook hands and
greeted people after voting in a
school near his home in Istanbul.
His staff handed out toys for chil-
dren in the crowd.
“God willing I believe our peo-
Erdogan says new powers
needed to face Turkey’s
challenges
Opponents say “Yes” vote
would mark authoritarian
move
ple will decide to open the path
to much more rapid develop-
ment,” Erdogan said in the poll-
ing station after casting his vote.
“I believe in my people’s dem-
ocratic common sense.”
Some 55 million people are
eligible to vote at 167,140 polling
stations which opened at 7 a.m.
in the east and 8 a.m. in the rest
of Turkey. Voting ends at 5 p.m.
Turkish voters abroad have al-
ready cast their ballots.
The referendum has bitterly
divided the nation. Erdogan and
his supporters say the changes
are needed to amend the current
constitution, written by generals
following a 1980 military coup,
confront the security and politi-
cal challenges Turkey faces, and
avoid the fragile coalition gov-
ernments of the past.
“This is our opportunity to
take back control of our coun-
try,” said self-employed Bayram
Seker, 42, after voting “Yes” in
Istanbul.
“I don’t think one-man rule
is such a scary thing. Turkey has
been ruled in the past by one
man,” he said, referring to mod-
ern Turkey’s founder Mustafa
Kemal Ataturk.
Opponents say it is a step to-
wards greater authoritarianism
in a country where some 47,000
people have been jailed pend-
ing trial and 120,000 sacked or
suspended from their jobs in
a crackdown following a failed
coup last July, drawing criticism
from Turkey’s Western allies and
rights groups.
Relations between Turkey
and Europe hit a low during the
referendum campaign when
EU countries, including Germa-
ny and the Netherlands, barred
Turkish ministers from holding
rallies in support of the changes.
Erdogan called the moves “Nazi
acts” and said Turkey could re-
consider ties with the European
Union after many years of seek-
ing EU membership.
Kurdish militants overnight
killed a guard in an attack on a
vehicle carrying a district official
from Yildirim’s ruling AK Party
in southeast Turkey’s Van prov-
ince, security sources said.
On Saturday, Erdogan held
four separate rallies in Istanbul,
urging supporters to turn out in
large numbers and saying it “will
be a turning point for Turkey’s
political history.”
Erdogan and the AK Party
have enjoyed a disproportionate
share of media coverage in the
buildup to the vote, overshadow-
ing the secular main opposition
Republican People’s Party (CHP)
and pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Demo-
cratic Party (HDP).
Erdogan has sought to ridicule
CHP’s Kemal Kilicdaroglu, play-
ing videos during rallies to illus-
trate what he describes as the op-
position leader’s ineffectiveness,
and has associated the “No” vote
with support for terrorism.
Kilicdaroglu has accused Er-
dogan of seeking a “one-man
regime”, and said the proposed
changes would put the coun-
try in danger. “This is not about
right or left [...] this is a national
issue [...] We will make our choic-
es with our children and future
in mind,” he said during his final
rally in the capital Ankara.
GUATEMALA: Javier Duarte, the former governor of Mexico’s Vera-
cruz state who is accused of running a corruption ring that alleg-
edly pilfered from state coffers, was detained in Guatemala after six
months as a fugitive and high-profile symbol of government graft in
his country.
A statement from Mexico’s federal Attorney General’s Office said Du-
arte was detained Saturday with the cooperation of Guatemalan police
and the country’s Interpol office in the municipality of Panajachel, a
picturesque tourist town on Lake Atitlan in Guatemala’s highlands.
It said he is wanted on suspicion of money laundering and orga-
nized crime, and prosecutors directed the Foreign Relations Depart-
ment to request Duarte’s extradition via its Guatemalan counterpart.
A photo released by Guatemalan police showed a bespectacled
Duarte, clad in a gray shirt and black jacket-vest, being escorted by
Interpol agents.
Manuel Noriega, deputy director of Interpol in Guatemala, said
Duarte was located at a hotel where he was staying with his wife. He
was asked to leave his room, did so voluntarily and then was arrested
without incident in the lobby.
Noriega said Duarte would be presented before a judge to consider
his possible extradition. Duarte was being transferred to the Guatema-
lan capital early Sunday. — AP
Two pirates killed for hijacking ship
SOMALIA: Foreign naval forces in international waters off Somalia’s
coast shot dead two pirates and wounded another when the bandits
attempted to hijack a ship, a Somali official said Sunday.
The two men were part of a group of nine pirates who were in a
boast approaching an unidentified ship near the Gulf of Aden when a
naval force opened fire on them, said Ahmed Abdullahi, an official with
the anti-piracy force in Puntland, a semi-autonomous part of Somalia.
The six other pirates survived the attack and escaped, he said.
Residents in Durduri, a coastal village in Sanaag region, said they found
two dead bodies left by the pirates near the coast on Sunday morning.
In recent weeks there has been a resurgence of piracy off Somalia’s
coast, after five years of inactivity. — AP

HATE SPEECH WOMEN’S RIGHTS

Pakistan probes A Saudi woman’s plea for help exposes risks runaways face
clerics after murder Aya Batrawy
ASSOC IATED PRESS/DUBAI, UNITED
ARAB EMIRATES
ties then took her to a women’s
shelter because of the attention
around her case.
She cannot leave, however,
Jibran Ahmed ing on the basis of videos taken A young Saudi woman’s plea without a male guardian’s permis-
REUTERS/PESHAWAR, PAKISTAN during the attack, and 15 had been for help after she was stopped sion. Activists say only officials and
arrested. He said they would be in an airport in the Philippines relatives can contact her there.
Pakistani police opened a hate tried by anti-terrorism courts. en route to Australia where she Although there are no pub-
speech investigation involving Police say they are also in- planned to seek asylum has trig- lic statistics on how many Saudi
two Muslim clerics on Sunday af- vestigating the clerics in Khan’s gered a firestorm on social media women attempt to flee abroad,
ter the killing of a university stu- hometown of Swabi, some 60 ki- and drawn attention to the plight the issue has gained attention
dent over allegations he commit- lometres south of Mardan, for at- of female runaways. through a number of publicized
ted blasphemy. tempting to disrupt funeral pro- For runaway Saudi women, cases. This despite gains made
The clerics are accused of at- ceedings and instigate hatred fleeing can be a matter of life and in recent years for Saudi women,
tempting to disrupt the funeral against the dead student’s family. death, and they are almost always including the right to run in, and
of student Mashal Khan, who was “The two clerics [...] the mosque doing so to escape male relatives. vote in, local elections in 2015,
beaten to death by fellow students loudspeaker for hate speech Under Saudi Arabia’s conserva- and a government effort to in-
after a dormitory debate was fol- against the slain student and his tive interpretation of Islamic law, crease women’s participation in AP /Hasan Jamali, File
lowed by accusa- family and [...] a male guardianship system bars the workforce. Runaway women: A Saudi woman takes photographs in a park dur-
tions of blasphemy “The nation should created hurdles women from traveling abroad, Women who have managed ing celebrations to mark the worldwide Earth Hour in Riyadh, Saudi
being spread across for the people obtaining a passport, marrying or to flee abroad say they were Arabia on March, 29, 2014.
a university cam- stand united to and another even leaving prison without the barred from marrying or forced
pus in the northern cleric to partici- consent of a male relative. into marriages. Others have told cent years pleading for help. A Saudi women’s rights activ-
city of Maradan. condemn this crime pate in the fu- The mystery around what trig- rights groups that male relatives Saudi courts have heard nu- ist reached by phone in Riyadh
University offi-
cials had issued a
and to promote neral,” a senior
Swabi police of-
gered Dina Ali Lasloom’s cry for
help has only added to concerns
were abusive and confiscated
their salaries.
merous cases of women asking for
a transfer of their guardianship to
said Lasloom was apparently try-
ing to flee relatives in Kuwait who
public notification tolerance and rule ficial told Re- for her safety. In an online video, “Many of them, they just want more sympathetic male relatives threatened to send her to live in
hours before the uters. He spoke the 24-year-old says her passport to be free,” said Moudi Aljohani, — in some cases to their own sons. Saudi Arabia.
murder naming of law in society,” on condition of was taken from her at an airport who fled last year and is seeking
three students be- anonymity for in the Philippines on her way to asylum in the United States.
ing investigated for fear of being tar- Australia last week. Aljohani, 26, says her family
“blasphemous activities.” geted by religious hardliners. “If my family come, they will felt she had become “too Ameri-
Blasphemy is an extremely sen- A local imam had refused to kill me. If I go back to Saudi Ara- canized” after a year of study in
sitive topic in Muslim majority lead the funeral prayers at Khan’s bia, I will be dead. Please help Miami. What was supposed to be
ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE
Pakistan, where penalties range funeral on Friday, according to me,” she pleads. a weeklong visit home turned into ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING OF SHAREHOLDERS (“AGMS”)
from small fines to the death sen- Swabi resident Salman Ahmed. A Wearing a beige coat, the wom- months of confinement, she says. In accordance with Indonesia Financial Services Authority (“OJK”) Regulation Number
tence, and dozens of people are on technician who was asked to do so an does not show her face in the “The eight months of being 32/POJK.04/2014 regarding Planning and Convening of General Meeting of Shareholders of Public
Company (“POJK 32”), this Announcement serves to inform the shareholders of PT Indosat Tbk
death row in the country’s jails. in the cleric’s place was confront- video. Most women in Saudi Ara- locked in Saudi Arabia has creat- (hereinafter referred to as the “Company”) that the Company will convene the AGMS to be held on:
There have been at least 65 ed by several people afterwards. bia cover their face with a veil ed an angry, rebellious person in- Date : Wednesday, May 24, 2017
Venue : Indosat Ooredoo Building
recorded cases of vigilante mur- In his press release, the prime known as a niqab. Many do so be- side of me that I don’t want to be Jl. Medan Merdeka Barat No.21
ders since 1990, according to fig- minister said the perpetrators of lieving it is a religious obligation, silent anymore,” she said. “What Jakarta 10110
Shareholders who are entitled to attend or represented at the AGMS are:
ures from a Center for Research the attack would be brought to in addition to covering their hair happened to me in Saudi Arabia a. For those whose shares have not been electronically registered in the Collective Custody of
and Security Studies report and justice. and body. Some also cover their created a person who just wants PT Kustodian Sentral Efek Indonesia (“PT KSEI”), only the shareholders whose names are
registered in the Company's Shareholder Register as at 4.00 p.m. (Western Indonesia Time)
local media. “The nation should stand unit- faces due to social pressure. to speak out.” on April 28, 2017.
In a statement released to the ed to condemn this crime and to “I am kept here as a criminal. I For the past 15 years, four of b. For those whose shares are in the Collective Custody of PT KSEI, only the account holders whose
names are registered as the Company’s Shareholders in the securities account of the Custodian
press on Saturday, Prime Min- promote tolerance and rule of law can’t do anything,” Lasloom says the late King Abdullah’s daugh- Bank or Securities Company as at 4.00 p.m. (Western Indonesia Time) on April 28, 2017.
ister Nawaz Sharif said he was in society,” Sharif said. in the video. The Associated Press ters, Princesses Jawaher, Sahar, The invitation of the AGMS will be announced in at least 1 (one) nationally circulating Indonesian
“shocked and saddened by the However, Pakistan’s govern- could not independently verify Hala and Maha — all in their 40s language daily newspapers, on the Indonesia Stock Exchange website and on the Company’s
website on May 2, 2017.
senseless display of mob justice ment has been vocal about blas- the video’s authenticity. — have allegedly been held in a Shareholders who may propose AGMS agenda items shall be 1 (one) or more shareholders
that resulted in the murder of a phemy in recent months, with Women’s rights advocates in royal compound in Saudi Arabia. representing 1/20 (one-twentieth) or more of the total shares with voting rights. Such proposal
of AGMS agenda(s) shall be submitted in writing to the Board of Directors of the Company in
young student, Mashal Khan, at Sharif issuing an order in March Saudi Arabia say Lasloom was ul- Their mother, who lives in Lon- compliance with the requirements of POJK 32, by no later than 7 (seven) days prior to the invitation
of the AGMS, i.e. at the latest on April 25, 2017
Wali Khan University.” for the removal of content timately forced to board a plane don, has spoken out in the British
Jakarta, April 17, 2017
Mardan police chief Alam deemed blasphemous online and to the kingdom with two of her press to try and bring attention to PT INDOSAT TBK
Shinwari said 20 people had been threatening “strict punishment” uncles, who flew from Riyadh their plight. Two of the princesses The Board of Directors
identified as culpable in the kill- for those violating the law. to stop her. They said authori- managed to release videos in re-
WORLD
SYRIA
Mass evacuation to
proceed after blast
Agencies
BEIRUT/VATICAN CITY
More than 3,000 Syrians are
expected to be evacuated Sunday
from four areas as part of a pop-
ulation transfer that was briefly
stalled the day before by a deadly
blast that killed scores of people,
most of them government sup-
porters.
The United Nations is not over-
seeing the transfer deal, which in-
volves residents of the pro-gov-
ernment villages of Foua and
Kfarya and the opposition-held
towns of Madaya and Zabadani.
All four have been under siege for
years, their fate linked through a
series of reciprocal agreements
that the UN says have hindered
aid deliveries.
Rami Abdurrahman, who
heads the Britain-based Syrian
Observatory for Human Rights,
and Hezbollah’s Al-Manar TV
said 3,000 people will be evacu-
ated from Foua and Kfarya, while
200, the vast majority of them
fighters, will be evacuated from
Zabadani and Madaya.
Abdurrahman said Saturday’s
blast — which hit an area where
thousands of government loyal-
ists evacuated the day before had
been waiting for hours — killed
112. He said the dead included 98
people from Foua and Kfarya.
After the blast, some 60 buses
carrying 2,200 people, including
400 opposition fighters, entered
areas held by rebels in the north-
ern province of Aleppo, Abdur-
rahman said.
More than 50 buses and 20
ambulances carrying some 5,000
Foua and Kfarya residents en-
tered the government-held city
of Aleppo, Syrian state TV said,
with some of them later reaching
a shelter in the village of Jibreen
to the south.
UN relief coordinator Stephen
O’Brien said he was “horrified”
by the deadly bombing, and that
while the UN was not involved in
the transfer it was ready to “scale
up our support to evacuees.”
He called on all parties to up-
hold their obligations under in-
ternational humanitarian and
human rights law, and to “facili-
tate safe and unimpeded access
for the UN and its partners to
bring life-saving help to those in
need.”
Residents of Madaya and
Zabadani, formerly summer re-
sorts, joined the 2011 uprising
against President Bashar Assad.
Both came under government
siege in the ensuing civil war.
Residents of Foua and Kfraya,
besieged by the rebels, have lived
under a steady hail of rockets and
mortars for years, but were sup-
plied with food and medicine
through military airdrops.
Critics say the string of evac-
uations, which could see some
30,000 people moved across bat-
tle lines over the next 60 days,
amounts to forced displacement
along political and sectarian lines.
Syrian state TV blamed the
rebels for obstructing the deal.
An opposition representative,
Ali Diab, accused the government
side of violating the terms of the
agreement, by evacuating fewer
armed men than agreed to from
the pro-government areas.
Meanwhile, Pope Francis on
Sunday condemned a bomb blast
on a crowded Syrian bus convoy
that killed at least 112 people out-
side Aleppo as an “ignoble” attack.
“May [God] in a particular way
sustain the efforts of those who
are actively working to bring heal-
ing and comfort to the civilian
population of Syria, the beloved
and martyred Syria, who are vic-
tims of a war that does not cease
to sow horror and death,” he said
in his Easter Sunday message to
tens of thousands of people in St.
Peter’s Square.
“Yesterday’s was the latest ig-
noble attack on fleeing refugees,”
he said.
The blast hit buses carrying
Shi’ite residents as they waited to
cross from rebel into government
territory in an evacuation deal be-
tween the warring sides.
Amid fear: Pope Francis celebrates Easter Mass in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican on Sunday. Pope Francis encouraged people to hold fast
in their “fearful hearts” to faith despite all the wars, sickness and hatred in the world.
Cling to faith amid wars and
hatred: Pope on Easter
Associated Press
VATICAN CITY/CAIRO
In an impromptu Easter Sun-
day speech, Pope Francis on Sun-
day encouraged people to hold
fast in their “fearful hearts” to
faith despite all the wars, sickness
and hatred in the world, acknowl-
edging that many wonder where
God is amid so much evil and suf-
fering.
Tens of thousands of faithful
braved heavy security checks —
and, later, a brief downpour from
Tens of thousands of
faithful braved heavy
security checks to enter
St. Peter’s Square
Easter Mass celebrations
held amid fear, grief in
churches across Egypt
after twin bombs killed 45
people
what had been sunny skies — to
enter St. Peter’s Square where
Francis celebrated Mass on the
steps leading to St. Peter’s Basilica.
Traditionally, the pope gives
no homily during the late-morn-
ing Easter Mass, saving his reflec-
tions for the “Urbi et Orbi” a sol-
emn message delivered “to the
city and to the world” — at noon
from the central balcony of St. Pe-
ter’s Basilica.
But Francis broke with that
tradition, giving an off-the-cuff
homily during Mass to try to an-
swer what he described as a nag-
ging question for many faithful:
why are there so many tragedies
and wars in the world if Jesus
has risen from the dead, a belief
Christians celebrate each Easter.
“The Church never ceases to
say, faced with our defeats, our
closed and fearful hearts, ‘stop,
the Lord is risen.’ But if the Lord
is risen, how come these things
NEW ENVOY
RI to lay groundwork for Palestine meet-up
Tama Salim
THE JAKARTA POST/JAKARTA
Career diplomat Andy Rachm-
ianto has set an ambitious target
for himself as he prepares to as-
sume his post as Indonesian Am-
bassador to Jordan and Palestine.
Andy wants to ensure that
President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo
will be able to embark on a tour
of the Middle East next year, with
possible stopovers in Jordan,
Egypt, Lebanon and Palestine.
And while it is still unlikely an
Indonesian leader will be able to
visit Palestine — two foreign min-
isters have tried and failed to en-
ter the country, even after seeking
permission from Israeli authori-
ties — Andy said he was seeking to
arrange a meeting with Palestin-
ian President Mahmoud Abbas in
Jordan in 2018.
“President Jokowi may be able
to meet with Abbas in Amman; it
will be extraordinarily symbolic
given the government’s commit-
ment to support the establishment
of the Palestinian nation-state,”
the outgoing director for interna-
tional security and disarmament
told The Jakarta Post recently.
Indonesia has been a staunch
proponent of Palestinian inde-
pendence, with Jokowi reiterat-
ing this longtime historical com-
mitment as one of his campaign
promises ahead of the 2014 pres-
idential elections. Jakarta does
not have any formal diplomatic
ties with Israel.
Besides continued politi-
cal support for the Palestinian
agenda, Jakarta has championed
various forms of technical co-
MONDAY April 17, 2017
happen?” Francis said, citing ac-
cidents, illnesses, human traffick-
ing, revenge and hatred, among
other suffering.
“Nobody asks us: ‘But, are you
happy with all that’s happening in
the world?’ Are you willing to go
forward’,” carrying a cross, as Je-
sus did? Francis asked the faithful.
Francis gestured toward the
potted hyacinths, tulips and daf-
fodils, as well as bouquets of pink
roses, arranged in neat rows on
the steps leading to the imposing
church.
Easter “isn’t a party with lots of
flowers. This is pretty, but it’s not
this, it’s more than this,” Francis
said, describing the day as an oc-
casion to ponder the mystery of
faith.
Francis said Easter brings “a
sign in the midst of so many ca-
lamities: a sense of looking be-
yond, of saying don’t look to a
wall, there’s a horizon, there’s life,
there is joy.”
Meanwhile, Easter Mass cele-
brations were held amid fear and
grief in churches across Egypt af-
ter twin bombs killed 45 people in
churches in Alexandria and Tanta
earlier this week on Palm Sunday.
At least eight security agents
could be seen surrounding Cop-
tic Christian Pope Tawadros II
as he entered St. Mark’s Cathe-
dral in Cairo, the seat of the Cop-
Courtesy of the Foreign Ministry
Andy Rachmianto
operation and capacity-building
measures to prepare the Palestin-
ian people for nationhood.
As ambassador-designate,
Andy pledged to conclude nego-
tiations for a 5 percent import tax
waiver on Palestinian products
marketed in Indonesia, particu-
larly dates and olive oil. He said it
was a concession the government
could afford given the relatively
small volume of trade.
Two-way trade between In-
donesia and Palestine stood at
US$2.5 million last year, with
only $284,000 in Palestinian im-
ports recorded.
Equally important, Andy will
pull strings so that President
Jokowi will be able to visit Am-
man next year, a reciprocal ges-
ture that serves to deepen bi-
lateral ties with the Jordanian
government.
The Jordanian king previously
visited Indonesia in 2014 for bi-
lateral consultations and again in
2015 to attend the 65th Asia Africa
Commemorative Conference in
Bandung, West Java.
Jordan is considered a strate-
gic ally for Indonesia in the Mid-
dle East, Andy said.
The Hashemite kingdom holds
| 12
AP/Gregorio Borgia
tic Orthodox Pope, where he lead
prayers with several ministers in
attendance.
Pope Tawadros had earlier an-
nounced during his Good Friday
sermon that, as mourning for
the attack’s victims was ongoing,
the celebratory aspects of Easter
would be canceled this year, in-
cluding the Easter morning re-
ception.
Egypt’s Interior Ministry
heightened security measures
on the day, creating 400-meter
radius security cordons around
churches barring vehicles. Ad-
ditionally, bomb squads scanned
churches across the country for
suspicious objects, according to
an official who spoke on the con-
dition of anonymity as he was not
allowed to brief the media.
On last Sunday, a suicide
bomber was able to make his way
to the front rows of a church in
the Nile Delta City of Tanta be-
fore blowing himself up. While in
the Mediterranean city of Alex-
andria, another attacker detonat-
ed his suicide vest at the church
gate’s metal detector after being
stopped by security.
The Islamic State (IS) group
claimed responsibility for the
bombings after vowing in an ear-
lier statement to continue target-
ing the country’s Coptic Christian
minority.
a key role in the Arab League, be-
ing one of two countries in the re-
gion to maintain diplomatic ties
with Israel.
The largely landlocked coun-
try is ruled by King Abdullah II,
who has been conferred with the
status of Guardian to Al-Quds Al-
Sharif as a result of his ancestral
link to Islam’s Prophet Muham-
mad, making him a worthy ally
in the Middle East Peace Process,
Andy argued.
Al-Quds Al-Sharif is the Arab
term designating the city of Je-
rusalem, a major point of con-
tention in the Palestinian-Israeli
conflict.
Andy also said Jordan geo-
graphically was situated in the
center of the Middle East, making
it the perfect hub for Indonesia to
extend its dealings around the re-
gion.
He said the two partners were
currently drafting a cooperation
agreement between Jordan’s wa-
terfront city Aqaba and Indone-
sia’s Batam Free Zone Authority
(BP Batam) in experience-shar-
ing, as well as possibly opening an
Indonesian products warehouse
for storing trade merchandise
waiting to be re-exported to third
countries.
“My target is for Indonesia to
be able to close the gap in trade
deficits and maybe return to the
peak trade volume of $500 mil-
lion from 2012,” Andy said.
According to the Trade Minis-
try, the volume of trade between
Indonesia and Jordan reached
$256 million in 2016, with the lat-
ter benefiting from a trade sur-
plus of $75.6 million.
BUSINESS MONDAY April 17, 2017 | 13
POVERTY ENERGY AUTOMOTIVE
Success stories sought from Aramco upbeat on oil market Mercedes-Benz gets
new subsidy scheme p14 despite US boom p16 local touch p21

Hand crafted
A worker prepares weaving yarns for drying at a workshop in Kambera district, East Sumba, East Nusa
Tenggara. The making of a piece of Sumba weaving fabric can take up to a months as it has to undergo 27
manual processes using natural dye. The final product can be sold for up to Rp 6.5 million (US$490) per
piece.
STATE BUDGET
Regions told to focus on priority programs
Grace D. Amianti
THE JAKARTA POST/SURABAYA
Focusing on fewer, but focused
priority programs is the main
theme of the state budget plan-
ning for next year and its success
is dependent on improved perfor-
mances from regional administra-
tions in designing their spending.
Regions with extensive knowl-
edge in budget management may
find the new task a walk in the
park. However, for many others,
the task may prove daunting.
Eni, a development planning
official in Sidoarjo, East Java, is
among those wondering how to
set priority programs for her re-
gency and work together with
other institutions.
“We are dealing with [devel-
opment] planning every day,
but how should we coordinate
better with, for instance, the
Agrarian and Spatial Planning
Ministry, if we want to accelerate
infrastructure projects in Sido-
arjo?” she asked during a recent
meeting between provincial offi-
cials.
East Java is the first province to
host a regional-based public-pri-
vate partnership (PPP) program.
Its drinking water treatment sys-
tem (SPAM) project in Umbulan,
Pasuruan, involves a number of re-
gency and city-level governments.
As hundreds of officials flocked
to the meeting, National Develop-
ment Planning (Bappenas) chief
Bambang Brodjonegoro conveyed
a key message from the central
government: The region must
drop inefficient programs and in-
clude only a handful of priority
projects in their 2018 budget plan.
Bambang’s instruction echoes
the model that President Joko
“Jokowi” Widodo’s introduced
last year dubbed the “money fol-
lows program,” which means the
budget must flow to units or divi-
sions in ministries or state insti-
tutions with priority programs.
Jokowi’s administration is
thoroughly planning the 2018
budget as it wants to gear up with
crucial projects, with infrastruc-
ture projects topping the list.
While it expects regional ad-
ministrations to follow suit, the
central government has posed an
example by slashing the number
of national priority programs to
10 next year, from 23 this year.
JP/Tarko Sudiarno
“If you have too many priori-
ties, it means you don’t have any.
Priority programs should be lim-
ited and manageable,” Bambang
said during the meeting.
The 2017 state budget has ear-
marked transfer of funds to re-
gions and villages at Rp 764.9 tril-
lion (US$57.6 billion), of which
Rp 336 trillion is to be spent on a
number of infrastructure projects.
This year’s budget is 8 percent
higher than the Rp 710.8 trillion
budget realized in the past year.
As for next year, the govern-
ment has allocated a total budget
of Rp 2.2 quadrillion, up 5.7 per-
cent from this year, which Jokowi
said must be oriented to achieve
development targets.
East Java is a good example
that reflects the idea that robust
economic expansion does not di-
rectly translate to a low-poverty
rate. While contributing strongly
to the country’s growth, the prov-
ince still has a relatively high pov-
erty rate at 11.85 percent as of last
September, above the national av-
erage of 10.70 percent. The maxi-
mum level Bappenas is trying to
push for the province is 11.50 per-
cent in 2018.
State-owned banks
in quandary over LRT
Dylan Amirio
and Prima Wirayani
THE JAKARTA POST/JAKARTA
Amid an ongoing struggle to
lower their bad debt ratios, state-
owned banks have to deal with
another headache because of the
government’s request they pro-
vide hefty loans at low interest
rates for the light rail transit (LRT)
project in Greater Jakarta.
Construction of the LRT proj-
ect, expected to be operational by
May 2019, is currently underway
with labor working on multiple
shifts 24 hours a day.
The project will cost a total of
Rp 27 trillion (US$2.02 billion),
with Rp 23.3 trillion allocated for
railway infrastructure and the re-
mainder for rolling stock.
A 2016 presidential regulation
stipulated that a third of the total
funding for the LRT project, one of
the country’s national strategic proj-
ects under President Joko “Jokowi”
Widodo’s administration, would
come from the state budget, while
the rest would be from bank loans.
As of March, the government
has so far contributed about
Rp 2 trillion for the project, mainly
through capital injections. State-
owned construction firm PT Adhi
Karya, the contractor of the proj-
ect, meanwhile, has allocated about
Rp 3 trillion from its own coffers to
partly finance the project.
While a global economic slow-
down has forced the government
to tighten spending and banks to
be extra prudent when it comes
to disbursing loans, alterna-
tive sources of funding are being
sought from major state-owned
banks, which are expected to pro-
vide loans at low interest rates.
Speaking on the sidelines of a re-
cent coordination meeting to dis-
State owned banks told
to provide hefty loans for
marquee project with 7
percent interest rate
Bankers want
negotiations
cuss the progress of the LRT con-
struction, Coordinating Maritime
Affairs Minister Luhut Pandjai-
tan said the government expected
state-owned banks, such as Bank
Mandiri and Bank Negara Indone-
sia (BNI), to provide loans at inter-
est rates as low as 7 percent.
“We are still discussing the in-
terest rates,” Luhut said. “If they
[state-owned banks] impose an 8.5
percent interest rate, the govern-
ment will need to provide a huge
subsidy. We are trying to push it
down to 7 percent.”
Besides Mandiri and BNI, state
lender Bank Rakyat Indonesia
(BRI) and state infrastructure fi-
nancing firm PT Sarana Multi In-
frastruktur are on board to pro-
vide financing as well.
The construction of the LRT in
Greater Jakarta, Southeast Asia’s
biggest metropolitan area, mean-
while, was divided into two phases.
The first phase will run between
Bogor in West Java and Jakar-
ta along a 42.1-kilometer track.
Meanwhile, the second phase will
construct another 41.5 km of track.
Bank Mandiri president direc-
tor Kartika “Tiko” Wirjoatmodjo,
who attended the meeting with
Luhut, said the LRT project is to
receive up to Rp 18 trillion in ad-
ditional funding from the banking
sector, “with about Rp 4 trillion to
Rp 5 trillion coming from each
participating lender.”
“The tenure will be from 16 to
18 years. We are still calculating,
negotiating from the project’s risk
factors the facility that can be giv-
en to it,” he said over the weekend.
The participating banks, he
added, proposed several require-
ments in the negotiations that in-
clude a government guarantee for
the project, a cash top-up from
the state budget should the LRT’s
fare revenues not be enough to
repay the loan and the creation
of a treasury account at each state
bank to keep government funds.
The 7 percent interest cap re-
quested by the government will
be much lower than the 9.75 to 10.5
percent currently being offered on
corporate loans by the biggest four
banks — Mandiri, BNI, BRI and
Bank Central Asia (BCA).
Mandiri, the country’s largest
lender, already had its net profits
plummet by 32.1 percent year-on-
year (yoy) to Rp 13.8 trillion last
year on the back of rising bad debts.
The publicly listed lender saw its
gross non-performing loan (NPL)
ratio soar to 4 percent in 2016 from
2.6 percent a year earlier.
Separately, BNI president di-
rector Achmad Baiquni said his
firm’s financial conditions still al-
lowed it to finance infrastructure
projects, including the LRT. He
said the bank was ready to allo-
cate Rp 5 trillion to Rp 6 trillion in
loans for the project.
Achmad, however, said BNI
was still in negotiations with the
government over the latter’s re-
quest for banks to collect a low 7
percent interest rate.
“During the negotiations, the 7
percent interest cap might go up,
or maybe we would ask the gov-
ernment to place an amount of
money [in our bank] with a cer-
tain interest so that our margins
would not be severely eroded,” he
said. (hwa/tas)

DISCOURSE

Bank liquidity still in check

despite lurking global risks: LPS
Indonesia’s banking industry is facing abundant challenges, such as
sluggish growth in loan disbursement, tight liquidity and the govern-
ment’s pressure for banks to lower lending rates. The Jakarta Post’s
Tassia Sipahutar and Prima Wirayani recently sat with Deposit In-
surance Corporation (LPS) executive director Fauzi Ichsan to discuss
possible risks that could hamper the industry’s growth. Here are excerpts
from the interview:

Question: How would you de- now, there is no indication that

scribe the current state of the bank-
ing industry’s liquidity?
Answer: The liquidity indica-
tor reveals a relatively safe situa-
tion. According to the latest data
up to November last year, the
loan to deposit ratio (LDR) stood
at 91.8 percent overall. Smaller
banks face difficulties in collect-
ing third party funds compared to
bigger banks, but generally the
liquidity is under control. What
is happening at the moment is li-
quidity segmentation and that is
not a new issue.
There is concern in the United
States that steep increases in fund
rates will result in a stronger dol-
lar, which will hurt its economy as
its exports will be less competi-
tive. We expect the US fund rate
to increase two to three times
this year and another two to three
times next year, which means
global liquidity will not be tight in
the next few years.
So, can we sit back and relax?
In plain words, concerns that
the US rate will hike are over-
blown considering the effects. [US
President Donald] Trump has al-
ways said that he prefers a depre-
ciating dollar as he wants the US
economy to be competitive.
If the concerns are overblown,
how can we benefit from the situ-
ation?
That means funding costs will
be relatively low. The decreas-
ing rupiah interest rate trend has
come to an end but that does not
mean we have entered the in-
creasing interest rate trend. The
trend can be in plateau and this
bottoming situation could last for
a short or long period of time. For
the rupiah interest rate will hike.
How will it affect the LPS’s rate?
The LPS’s rate mechanism is
clear. We follow the market rate,
which is in accordance to the cen-
tral bank’s reference rate. [LPS
does not guarantee banks’ sav-
ings accounts and time deposits
if their interest rates are above its
guaranteed rate].
What are the biggest risks faced
by our banking industry in 2017?
As long as the economy grows
above 5 percent and the glob-
al interest rate does not signifi-
cantly rise, the risks are relatively
limited.
There is a liquidity issue but it
is liquidity segmentation and not
a new problem. This actually fu-
els arguments on why the bank-
ing sector should be consolidat-
ed, especially banks in the BUKU
II [with core capital between
Rp 1 trillion and Rp 5 trillion] and
BUKU III [with core capital be-
tween Rp 5 trillion and Rp 30 tril-
lion] categories. Eventually, their
core capitals must increase.
The regulators should en-
courage mergers and acquisition
among banks. There is a percep-
tion that the industry is anti-for-
eign investment following the
failure of the Bank DBS Indonesia
and Bank Danamon merger. That
perception should be reversed.
How do you see the govern-
ment’s repeated call for banks to
lower interest rates?
That can be interpreted as a
lower NIM [net interest margin].
Indonesia’s NIM is around 5 per-
cent, one of the highest in ASEAN
and even the world.
Competition will lower the
JP/Arief Suhardiman
Fauzi Ichsan
NIM and we will have a com-
petitive environment if we in-
vite foreign investors to invest in
the banking sector as the indus-
try’s high investment nature and
rigid regulations cause many In-
donesian tycoons to prefer in-
vesting in other sectors, such as
infrastructure.
The banking sector must serve
the real economy, which means
the banking sector should be an
efficient fund broker.
How much is the LPS’s balance
sheet now?
Approximately Rp 73.4 trillion
(US$5.5 billion).
Is that enough?
Enough for what? The law has
stated that the bank rescue can be
done not only through temporary
capital injection (PMS) but also
through purchase and assump-
tion and breach bank establish-
ment.
With those options, bank res-
olution costs can be much lower
compared to the PMS.
In purchase and assumption,
for example, LPS will separate
the bank’s good and bad assets,
bundle the good assets and auc-
tion it to investors or other banks.
The LPS will pay the difference
between the assets and liabilities,
which means the LPS’s balance
sheet can be used more efficiently
to save failing banks.
So, it really depends on the cri-
sis. If the bank’s failure is ad hoc
and not caused by an economic
crisis, we can compare it to the
current banks’ balance sheets.
14 | BUSINESS MONDAY April 17, 2017

ECONOMY IN BRIEF
Success stories sought
from new subsidy scheme
Viriya P. Singgih Energy subsidies included million households allowed to soar to Rp 30 trillion (US$2.26
THE JAKARTA POST/JAKARTA in card purchase the 3-kg canisters, but billion) from the planned Rp 20
the products had instead been trillion this year.
The government recently in- Successful distributed to around 60 million Throughout 2016, Pertamina
cluded energy subsidies in Presi- implementation remains households. distributed a total of 10.67 mil-
dent Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s flag- to be seen In terms of subsidized electric- lion kiloliters of subsidized LPG,
ship Prosperous Family Cards ity, the number of eligible cus- up 7.9 percent from the previous
(KKS), but whether such inclusion tomers stands at 4.05 million af- year. No data was immediately
leads to the proper distribution of LPG and electricity are expected ter the ministry removed 18.85 available regarding the number of
the subsidies remains to be seen. to occur in January or March 2018. million from its subsidized elec- recipients.
The energy subsidy inclusion When the energy subsidies are tricity program. “We may need to wait for the
is made possible with a memo- included, the KKS will turn into a Meanwhile, the nationwide full implementation of the sin-
randum of understanding (MoU) bigger “combo” card as it already centralized online identification gle identification number system
Antara/Puspa Perwitasari signed by the Energy and Mineral combines e-money with an ATM system has faced a number of before we can impose a similar
Faster lane: President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo (center), Public Resources Ministry and Bank In- card and can be used to purchase technical glitches since the start scheme for kerosene and bioso-
Works and Public Housing Minister Basuki Hadimuljono (left) donesia (BI) on Thursday. subsidized staple foods. of its implementation in 2012. lar,” Jonan said.
and Transportation Minister Budi Karya Sumadi inspect the Under the agreement, BI will However, public policy experts A lack of supplies and tech-il- Meanwhile, Institute for De-
Tanjung Priok toll road on the sidelines of the facility’s opera- help facilitate and monitor the are skeptical about the program. literate officials has hampered the velopment of Economics and Fi-
tional inauguration on Saturday. distribution of energy subsidies University of Indonesia’s Agus migration from manual recording nance (INDEF) executive direc-
through the KKS, which uses an Pambagyo said the presence of of names in the civil registry to tor Enny Sri Hartati said the use
integrated system connecting “real-time data” was of the ut- the online system. of multifunction cards — such as
Tanjung Priok toll road open to traffic four state-owned lenders, name- most importance in subsidy dis- Minister Ignasius Jonan the KKS and Healthy Indonesia
ly Bank Negara Indonesia (BNI), tribution. claimed the KKS would eradicate Card (KIS) — had not properly
JAKARTA: President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo officially opened the Tan- Bank Rakyat Indonesia (BRI), “If the e-ID issue is not solved, improper energy subsidy distri- addressed existing poverty issues.
jung Priok toll road to traffic on Saturday. As part of the Jakarta Outer Bank Mandiri and Bank Tabun- [subsidy distribution issues] will bution on the field. “Everything must be rooted in
Ring Road (JORR), it was built to improve the efficiency of moving gan Negara (BTN). never be solved. Say we use data “The subsidy for the 3-kg LPG an accurate database, which is not
vehicles to and from North Jakarta’s Tanjung Priok Port, the country’s Eligible households holding from TNP2K [the National Team canisters will no longer be given available,” she said, adding that the
busiest. the KKS will be able to buy 3-ki- for the Acceleration of Poverty to [state-owned oil and gas giant] overall amount of funding to tackle
The construction of the 11.4-kilometer toll road, which connects logram subsidized liquefied pe- Alleviation], when was the data Pertamina. Instead, it will direct- poverty, including through energy
the JORR and the Jakarta Inner Ring Road, began in 2008 and was fi- troleum gas (LPG) canisters with collected? People become rich ly be distributed to the ones who subsidies, was already significant.
nanced by more than Rp 4.1 trillion (US$309.1 million) in loans from the subsidies in their cards. They and poor any time,” he said. really need it through the KKS,” According to the state budget,
the Japanese government. will also be able to subscribe to At present, the government Jonan said. the government has allocated
The completion of the toll road was delayed for about six years the 450 volt-ampere (VA) or 900 still relies heavily on data from Without the card, the govern- Rp 32.2 trillion for fuel and gas
because of issues related to land acquisition and technical matters, VA subsidized electricity. the TNP2K published in 2015. ment estimates LPG subsidy al- subsidies and Rp 45 trillion for
including the reconstruction of 69 concrete piles. The purchases of subsidized It shows there were only 25.7 location in the state budget might electricity subsidies this year.
President Jokowi said he expected the road would help thousands
of container trucks more efficiently access Tanjung Priok Port every
day.
Transportation Minister Budi Karya Sumadi, meanwhile, estimated
that the new toll road would cut about an hour off the trip to the
Mission accomplished
port.
“The faster the trip the better our competitiveness in the transpor-
tation of goods. This will also help firms reduce their overall produc-
tion costs,” he said.
For the next 30 days, drivers can use the Tanjung Priok toll road
free of charge.
Tanjung Priok Port serves as the country’s main gateway for
international trade, handling more than half the country’s externally
traded goods.
It received an annual 1.5 million total equivalent unit (TEU) capac-
ity boost for imports and exports with the operation of the New Priok
Container Terminal 1 (NPCT1) last September, from the previous 7
million TEU capacity. Its container traffic rose to 5.4 million TEUs last
year from 5.2 million TEUs in 2015. — JP

Women can have it all: Sri Mulyani

JAKARTA: Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati has encouraged
local companies to implement more women-friendly policies in an
effort to boost female employees’ contributions at work.
“If you look at the population of women and men, there is a 50:50
[ratio], but when you look at the labor force, especially in the formal
sector, the proportion of women drops,” she said during the General
Electric (GE) Women’s Network forum held recently in Jakarta.
The situation, she said, was caused by the public perception that a
woman’s main job is to take care of the family so that many of them
decide to quit their careers, especially if their companies’ policies do
not accommodate female workers. JP/Donny Fernando
“Of course, you can have it all, but you have to involve other par- Heavy equipment distributor PT United Tractors (UT) independent director Edhie Sarwono (left to right), finance and accounting director
ties, like your spouse and children,” she said, answering a question Iwan Hadiantoro, president director Gidion Hasan, director Franciscus Xaverius Laksana Kesuma and marketing and truck sales operation di-
from the audience. rector Loudy Irwanto Ellias converse after the company’s annual shareholders’ meeting on April 13 in Jakarta. The meeting resulted in the ap-
“It depends on whether you’re ready to pay such attention so you proval of its 2016 financial performance report as well as the payment of dividends sourced from its Rp 5 trillion (US$375 million) profit.
can manage them all.”
Sri Mulyani, who served as World Bank managing director prior to
her return to Cabinet, shared her experiences juggling her work and
family life. Her family members, she said, got used to seeing her PROPERTY
bring her work home so she could finish it and still have the chance
to interact with her family.
She would also bring her children to work so that they had an idea
of what their mother did during the day. — JP
Plaza Indonesia expects revenue to remain at 2016 level
Winny Tang last year. Plaza Indonesia Realty cur- The mixed-use complex will
Panasonic aims to triple sales growth by 2020 THE JAKARTA POST/JAKARTA In line with dwindling revenue, rently operates a number of prop- consist of a shopping center, ho-
its earnings before interest, tax, erties in the capital, namely Plaza tels, apartments and an office
JAKARTA: PT Panasonic Gobel Indonesia, one of the country’s major Publicly listed property devel- depreciation and amortization Indonesia shopping center locat- tower.
electronics manufacturers, wants to triple the growth of its sales within oper Plaza Indonesia Realty ex- (EBITDA) over the period also ed near Jakarta’s Hotel Indonesia Since last year until the first
the next three years. pects its revenue this year to re- decreased 6.16 percent to Rp 198 traffic circle, fX Sudirman shop- quarter of this year, Plaza In-
To achieve the target, the company said it would boost its promo- main the same as last year as the billion year-on-year. ping mall, the Plaza office tower, donesia Realty has bought back
tional activities and advertisement spending to maintain its relations economic slowdown keeps peo- The country’s slower economic Grand Hyatt Hotel and Keraton 512.2 million shares, of which 213
with its dealers and consumers. ple’s purchasing power weak. expansion last year hurt the com- Luxury Collection Hotel. million shares were obtained last
“With such a strategy, we hope to triple our sales growth by 2020,” The company, which runs hotels, pany’s revenue as it missed its tar- As part of its expansion plan year and the rest will be fully ac-
president director Hiroyoshi Suga said during the recent launch of the shopping centers and office build- get of 6.3 percent growth, rising for this year, the company will quired this year.
company’s “Let’s Live Life Better” campaign in Jakarta. ings, projects it will book around instead by only 1.2 percent from add more facilities in Plaza Indo- “A Financial Services Authori-
For this year, the company, a subsidiary of Japan’s electronics giant Rp 1.6 trillion (US$120 million) in 2015. nesia, which along with building ty [OJK] rule gives companies the
Panasonic, said it plans to launch 121 new models in all product cat- revenue in 2017, the same as it re- The slight increase was sup- maintenance, will take up Rp 82 opportunity to buy back shares in
egories, such as air conditioners, televisions, refrigerators and washing corded last year. This estimate is ported by a 10.17 percent gain in billion of its capital expenditure. significantly fluctuating market
machines. based on the presumption that the revenue from office buildings to It will also renovate Grand Hyatt conditions,” Lucy explained.
With this expansion, the company said it hopes the product varieties property market’s lackluster per- Rp 229.35 billion. Hotel, with the project project- As of end of March, the major-
between the top-end and low-end markets will be balanced, Suga formance will continue. Plaza Indonesia Realty’s chief ed to last two years and require ity shares of Plaza Indonesia Re-
said. “We expect our revenue to re- operating officer, Maria Egron, Rp 700 billion. alty totaling 35.71 percent were
For the April 2017 to March 2018 fiscal year, the company said it main flat in anticipation of an attributed the hike in revenue to Furthermore, it will begin in the owned by real estate giant Sinar-
expects its sales to grow by 20 percent, an improvement from the 15 unpromising property market,” a 20 percent jump in rental rates middle of this year construction mas Group. Another 26.03 per-
percent growth in the previous fiscal year. finance director Lucy Suyanto for shopping mall space and a 5 of Mayfair Estate and Parklands cent is held by Credit Suisse AG
The company claimed that it controls a 23 percent share in Indone- said during a public briefing on percent rise for office buildings. on 12 hectares of land in Cikarang, SG, followed by Plaza Indone-
sia’s home appliance market. By far, it said air conditioner sales have Thursday. Despite the moderate revenue West Java, through its subsidiary sia Realty (14.31 percent), MNC
made up the largest portion of overall sales, with a 25 percent contri- The company’s revenue slight- increase, the firm managed to PT Plaza Indonesia Jababeka. The Land (8.28 percent), UBS AG Sin-
bution, followed by the sales of refrigerators, televisions and washing ly dropped by 1.98 percent to push up its net profit by 162 per- development will absorb Rp 2 tril- gapore (7.27 percent), while the
machines. — JP Rp 396 billion in the first quarter cent to Rp 713.52 billion last year lion from its capital expenditure remainder belongs to the invest-
of this year from the same period from 2015. over the next two years. ing public.

LOGISTICS

MMLP to get boost from GIC, rights issue for expansion

The Jakarta Post
JAKARTA
Indonesia’s largest warehouse
leasing company, PT Mega Ma-
nunggal Property (MMLP), is set
to get a boost from fresh funds
from Singapore-based GIC Private
Limited and an immediate rights
issuance to support expansion.
Through its subsidiary, Reco
Indolog Private Limited, promi-
nent global investment firm GIC
has raised its stakes in MMLP’s
subsidiary PT Mega Khatulistiwa
Properti (MKP) from 33.4 per-
cent to 45 percent.
Formerly known as the Gov-
ernment of Singapore Invest-
ment Corporation, GIC manag-
es Singapore’s sovereign wealth
fund and currently controls more
than US$100 billion in assets.
MMLP’s president director
Bonny Budi Setiawan recently
said that the move was expected to
bring in a Rp 1.2 trillion (US$90.3
million) capital injection for a
multi-year expansion plan.
To further strengthen its cap-
ital, MMLP will offer 3 billion
shares equal to 35 percent of its
stakes to the public in the near
future. The firm is awaiting for
approval from the Financial Ser-
vices Authority (OJK). Its current
share price is Rp 100 apiece.
With this step, the firm eyes to
generate another Rp 1.5 trillion.
Funds from GIC’s acquisition
and rights issuance will contrib-
ute to the firm’s capital expen-
diture (capex), which this year
alone amounts to Rp 3 trillion.
The 2017 spending has primar-
ily been earmarked to support the
construction of up to four inte-
grated warehouses in Greater Ja-
karta and Surabaya, covering net
leaseable area (NLA) of 190,000
square meters. Carried out by its
subsidiary MKP, the development
will begin in the near future and
finish in 2019.
By that year, MMLP hopes
manage 500,000 sqm of NLA in
total.
“The expansion is necessary
because the demand [for ware-
houses] continues to grow, while
available spaces cannot cope with
it,” Bonny told the reporters af-
ter the company’s shareholders
meeting.
MMLP has provided logis-
tics facilities by leasing integrat-
ed warehouses and office spaces
since 2010. It currently operates
four warehouses in Greater Ja-
karta, namely in East Jakarta,
Bekasi and Depok, with an overall
NLA of 163,911 sqm, and serves,
among others, multinational
consumer goods company Unile-
ver and logistics service provider
DHL.
“For now, we are only focus-
ing on our business in Greater Ja-
karta, but we plan to expand our
business to Surabaya this year,”
Bonny said.
Since late last year, the firm has
been constructing another three
integrated warehouses in Bekasi
and Cileungsi, Bogor, to cover an
NLA of 106,332 sqm by 2018.
Following the company’s ini-
tial public offering (IPO) in 2015,
MMLP is now 50.1 percent owned
by real estate and property agent
PT Mega Mandiri Properti, fol-
lowed by the public (24.95 per-
cent), Singapore-based invest-
ment management service
company Indies Special Oppor-
tunities Private Limited (15.36
percent), Bnymsanv Re Bnym Re
Buteo Dende LLC (8.89 percent)
and its president commissioner
Hengkang Sutedja (0.7 percent).
MMLP’s revenues increased by
7.84 percent to Rp 110 billion last
year from 2015. Its profits climbed
by 84.85 percent to Rp 122 billion
in 2016 from a year earlier.
Meanwhile, MMLP’s consoli-
dated revenues increased by 7.36
percent to Rp 175 billion last year
from 2015. Its profits jumped by
250 percent to Rp 399 billion in
2016 from a year earlier.
Its total assets rose by 24 per-
cent to Rp 3.9 trillion in the past
year from 2015. (ecn)
MONDAY April 17, 2017
Winter
ending
to property
market
Lee Xin En
THE STRAITS TIMES/ANN/SINGAPORE
It has been a long winter for
Singapore’s property market,
but the first blooms of spring are
showing. The signs of a revival are
strong, such as greatly increased
sales volumes and fierce bidding
for land by developers ready to
fork out eye-watering sums.
The latest pointer to an upturn
was the keenly contested Toh
Tuck Road site, which drew 24
developers — a record for a non-
landed government sale site.
Malaysian developer SP Setia
offered S$265 million (US$189.6
million) for the 18,721.4 square
meter plot, which works out to
S$939 per square foot (psf ) per
plot ratio, surprising analysts,
who were expecting bids capped
at S$200 million.
“Developers have a positive
view of the market from 2018,”
said Tricia Song, head of research
at Colliers International.
“The land price for the Toh
Tuck site was way above expecta-
tions, implying a breakeven cost
of S$1,490 psf,” she added, noting
that a 10 per cent profit margin
would imply an average selling
price of S$1,660 psf.
“Based on that profit margin,
the developer is probably looking
at a 10 to 15 per cent price appre-
ciation over the next three years.”
Private home sales figures have
also whetted the appetite of de-
velopers.
A total of 977 units were sold
in February, treble the 303 units
sold in the same month last year,
raising expectations for new
home sales figures to be released
on Monday.
Lee Nai Jia, head of South-east
Asia research at Edmund Tie and
Company, said that developers
are encouraged by sales at Park
Place Residences, as the units
there are quite expensive.
“This makes them optimistic
that while bid prices may be high,
there is demand for good-quality
homes,” he added.
Alan Cheong, head of Singa-
pore research at Savills, was un-
equivocally bullish on his assess-
ment of the market.
“The market has turned around
and, on the ground, people are
now recommitting,” he said.
Cheong noted that unchanged
Forbidden delicacy
People eat noodles at a street food shop during their lunch on Thon-
glor road in Bangkok. Thai officials see street food as an illegal nui-
sance and have warned hawkers to clear out by Monday.
ECONOMY
Wanted: More high-quality investments in Malaysia
Daniel Khoo
THE STAR/ANN/KUALA LUMPUR
Is the reason for Malaysia’s
private investment growth slow-
ing down since 2013 really due to
escalating costs, or is it because
businesses are less competitive?
After all, Malaysian businesses
and consumers have had to live
with rising costs for some years
now, as subsidies are either being
abolished or lowered.
The gradual cessation of such
assistance, as it was, has revealed
how uncompetitive a large swathe
of the Malaysian economy is. Yes,
there are pockets of competi-
tion such as the glove makers and
chipmakers, while the country
Signs of revival strong
Long-term outlook still
fragile, analyst warns
Land prices unlikely to
come down
cooling measures, like the total
debt servicing ratio (TDSR), have
made the revival of the market
look more gradual, preventing it
from “turning in its full glory.”
But property watchers should
not expect a revival akin to a
roaring dragon come back to life.
Cheong likened it to “a newborn
baby” that was “still fragile.”
“The turnaround in sentiment
is noticeable and broad-based,
but it lacks the horsepower to ac-
cept certain strides in prices — al-
though a gradual creep in prices
upward can be accepted by the
market,” he said, adding that sea-
soned property agents were now
busy closing deals.
Most analysts were cautious-
ly optimistic, forecasting higher
sales volumes, but adding that
prices would continue declining
and hit bottom by the end of this
year.
Lee Nai Jia said that “because
of the current excitement, there
will be more en bloc sales.”
Land prices are unlikely to
come down, as foreign develop-
ers have shown strong interest
and could be more focused on get-
ting boasting rights to having de-
veloped a property in Singapore
than making maximum profit, he
added.
Meanwhile, Desmond Sim,
CBRE’s head of research for
Singapore and South-east Asia,
was more cautious, saying
that it is “too early to call it a
turnaround.”
Sim added that while the re-
cord low number of unsold units,
land prices and aggressive bid-
ding favor a positive reading of
the market, macroeconomic fac-
tors and the fact that “larger units
are not being sold” call for a more
balanced view.
“A housing purchase is not
like buying a Louis Vuitton bag
— macroeconomic views still
matter,” he said, citing higher
unemployment rates and the
likelihood of further interest rate
hikes.
AP/Sakchai Lalit
is the second-largest exporter of
palm oil and palm-derived prod-
ucts in the world.
But the reliance on the low-
cost model has cost the Malaysian
economy dearly. Businesses have
no incentive to move up the val-
ue chain and produce goods and
services that make higher mar-
gins. What makes life more diffi-
cult now is that they have to con-
tend with other costs — minimum
wage, higher inputs, the goods and
services tax (GST) and the latest —
the Employment Insurance Sys-
tem (EIS). The additional costs eat
into whatever margins they make.
On the surface, some will say
that businesses have invested
less because costs have risen. The
Tasty beans: Vietnamese women sort coffee beans at a coffee factory in Hanoi. Major European coffee buyers are struggling to obtain sup-
plies of premium Robusta beans after heavy rains in Vietnam last year wreaked havoc on the crop in the world’s biggest producer.
COMMODITY
Coffee roasters hit by poor bean quality
Ana Ionova
REUTERS/LONDON
Major European coffee buyers
such as Nestle are struggling to ob-
tain supplies of premium Robusta
beans after heavy rains in Vietnam
last year wreaked havoc on the crop
in the world’s biggest producer.
Coffee roasters with strict re-
quirements about the quality of
their Robusta beans, a cheaper
variety than Arabica and used for
instant coffee, are rejecting deliv-
eries, traders said.
Roasters complain the coffee
is musty and bitter, having been
soaked last autumn by heavy rains
during harvesting, when farmers
lay the coffee cherries out to dry.
The weather damage can also
be seen in the color — more beans
than usual are a brown or black
hue rather than the typical pale
green color of raw coffee.
Nestle, the world’s largest cof-
fee company, has been hit par-
ticularly hard, traders said, since
it has also committed to buy-
ing coffee that meets the volun-
tary Common Code for the Cof-
fee Community, known as the 4C
sustainability standards.
BOURSE
Chinese backers planning S’pore third derivatives exchange
Bloomberg
SHANGHAI/SINGAPORE
Singapore may be set to get a
third derivatives exchange, this
time backed by China.
If the new bourse, which would
be called Apex, goes ahead, it
would be operated by Asia Invest-
ment Pte., according to people
with knowledge of the matter. Asia
Investment is majority-owned by
former China Financial Futures
Exchange and Dalian Commod-
ity Exchange chief Eugene Zhu
Yuchen, with a minor stake held by
the firm of hedge fund manager Ge
Weidong, according to corporate
records in the city-state.
Apex would be a potential
challenger to Intercontinen-
tal Exchange Inc. and Singapore
Exchange Ltd., which already op-
erate bourses in the city. A Chi-
nese-backed offshore exchange
would dovetail with Beijing’s
drive to raise the country’s status
in global financial markets and
bolster the presence of its com-
panies around the world. A main-
land firm is seeking to buy the
Chicago Stock Exchange, while
the Shanghai Stock Exchange
truth is, when comparisons are
made, the cost of doing business
is actually not as high as what lo-
cal businesses believe it to be.
A number of countries in this re-
gion have higher costs but see high-
er private investments, perhaps
due to a low-base effect since their
economies may be less developed.
The other more compelling reason,
given how developed the Malaysian
economy is, is competition.
However, it does not detract
from the fact that, mere coinci-
dence or not, the growth rate of
private-sector investments in the
country has been falling as the cost
of doing business keeps rising.
Since hitting a peak of 21.4 per-
cent in 2012, private-sector in-
“They have specific quality
standards that are generally high-
er than others,” said one Europe-
an trader.
Sourcing coffee has been more
difficult this year due to roughly
20 percent lower production in
Vietnam, as well as a second poor
crop in Brazil, the world’s second
largest Robusta grower.
Traders said Nestle had earlier
this year tendered for roughly 3
million 60-kilogram bags of Viet-
namese Robusta coffee for March
2017/March 2018 delivery.
One trader said Nestle typically
uses 5 to 6 million bags of Vietnam-
ese Robusta coffee a year, which
represents nearly a quarter of the
country’s 2016/2017 output, ex-
pected at about 24.5 million bags.
Nestle declined a request for
comment.
Nestle could try alternative
sources, traders said, but few
countries grow the beans it needs
on a large scale.
While 4C is a widely used
benchmark, only about 29 per-
cent — 2.6 million tons in 2015 ac-
cording to the Global Coffee Plat-
form — of coffee grown globally
meets Nestle’s specification. Most
is reportedly close to acquir-
ing a stake in Pakistan’s national
bourse.
Zhu’s Asia Pacific Holdings Pte.
holds a 97.8 percent stake in Asia
Investment, according to the firm’s
corporate records, while Ge’s Hong
Kong-based Chaos Investment Ltd.
owns 1.6 percent. Asia Investment
has paid-up capital of US$12.2 mil-
lion. Zhu declined to comment
when asked about the new venue.
Officials in Chaos Investment’s
Hong Kong office did not respond
to requests for comment.
“We are still in the process of
working with the Monetary Au-
thority of Singapore to obtain a
license as an approved exchange,”
Asia Investment said in a March
13 letter to Singapore’s Account-
ing and Corporate Regulatory Au-
thority. The firm was appealing
to change its name to Asia Pacific
Exchange Pte. and to reserve the
name for at least a year.
The bourse could list com-
modity futures and interest rate
options and swaps, according to
two of the people, who asked not
to be named because the talks are
private. Details have not been fi-
nalized, the people said, and the
vestments have been on a decline.
At the same time, the cost of doing
business has gone up.
Since 2010, in line with the
Government removing subsi-
dies, the cost of doing business
has been estimated to have gone
up significantly as the economy
moves up the value chain.
The reasons range from a high-
er minimum wage to the increase
in energy prices. The soon-to-
be-implemented EIS has further
raised worries among the business
community that it would lead to
another round of cost increases.
The environment for doing
business has certainly become
tougher in recent years.
The Federation of Malaysian
4C Robusta comes from Vietnam.
The bulk of 4C is Arabica cof-
fee, typically used in premium
blends, from countries such as
Brazil and Colombia.
Indonesia, the world’s third larg-
est Robusta producer, grows some
4C coffee, but traders said it usually
falls short of Nestle’s taste test.
“You are stuck because you
committed to that supply chain
and that sustainability program,”
said a second trader. “You might
have the perfect coffee next door
— but it’s not certified.”
Higher quality coffee from In-
dia and Uganda could fit Nestle’s
profile, but these countries also
produce only small volumes of 4C
coffee and traders say the premi-
um on supplies from these coun-
tries is $160 to $200 a ton to top
quality Vietnamese Robusta.
For now, quality issues have
mostly affected companies which
buy on taste rather than the look
of Robusta beans and the coffee
shunned by Nestle is expected to
easily find a home and unlikely to
be discounted.
“There are plenty of people
who are less strict,” another trad-
er said.
plans are still at an early stage.
CME Group Inc., the world’s
biggest exchange operator by
market value, was approached to
take a stake in the venture but dis-
cussions did not advance, accord-
ing to another person. A CME of-
ficial declined to comment.
Singapore, where Mandarin is
widely spoken, is a popular Chi-
nese travel and investment des-
tination. Mainland firms form
the biggest group of foreign-list-
ed companies on the Singapore
Exchange, while the FTSE China
A50 Index Futures is the most ac-
tive derivatives contract in the
city-state.
Some previous attempts to start
derivatives venues in the South-
east Asian country have floun-
dered. Singapore Mercantile Ex-
change Pte. was bought by ICE for
$150 million in 2013 after suffer-
ing years of losses. The purchase
gave ICE a license to trade and
clear derivatives in Singapore.
ICE’s venue opened in Novem-
ber 2015 after three separate de-
lays. The China Securities Regu-
latory Commission earlier that
year had expressed concern to
Singapore over ICE’s plans to of-
Manufacturers (FMM) cited
some of the elements that have
contributed to the increase in
costs such as the GST, the intro-
duction of a minimum retirement
age law and the expansion of the
Social Security Organization in-
surance to cover all employees,
including top management, effec-
tive since June 2016.
The Malaysian Employers Fed-
eration had objected to the pro-
posed EIS.
“It will be an additional burden
to the already high cost of doing
business and will make Malaysian
employers less competitive, espe-
cially given the challenging eco-
nomic outlook,” the FMM said in
a statement, adding that employ-
| 15
Reuters/Kham
More broadly, the market is
worried about future supplies
from Vietnam due to producers
having sold forward their best
coffee in a bid to lock in profits
earlier this year, when Robus-
ta prices hit 5-1/2 year highs of
$2,282 a ton.
The low grade quality of the
remaining stock in Vietnam is
causing concern, as is the volume
farmers and middlemen are hold-
ing at this point in the season.
Traders estimated just 20 to 30
percent remains in the country,
compared with 45 to 50 percent
in a typical year.
Focus is also on discolored
beans, which some dealers say
could make up 8 to 10 percent of
the total crop.
Price differentials have not
yet shifted dramatically, but the
discount for lower quality beans
suggests oversupply; grade 3 is
trading about $150 to $200 a ton
below Grade 2 compared with
about $100 previously.
“The longer we go, the more
we realize we’ve drawn down the
good coffee,” said a third trader.
“At some point this is going to
be an issue.”
fer cotton and sugar futures. ICE
has four trading members while
SGX, the dominant exchange,
has 53. An ICE spokeswoman de-
clined to comment.
Deutsche Boerse AG, which
opened an office in Singapore in
2009, said in September 2015 that
it was delaying the start of its de-
rivatives market in Singapore un-
til this year, citing internal and ex-
ternal reasons.
“Deutsche Boerse is evaluating
strategic opportunities and prior-
ities,” said spokesman Heiner Se-
idel. “Asia is one element.”
Zhu and Tan Tock Siong, a for-
mer regulation chief at ICE in
Singapore, are named as directors
of Asia Investment in a filing with
the Accounting and Corporate
Regulatory Authority.
To get approval, Apex would
need to submit details includ-
ing a three- to five-year business
plan, the financial soundness of
its shareholders and information
about its risk management sys-
tems to the Monetary Authority
of Singapore. The regulator said
in an emailed reply that it does
not comment on its dealings with
individual parties.
ers cannot afford to absorb any
further increases.
Anecdotal evidence, according
to economists, points to the possi-
bility of the increased costs being
among factors that may have af-
fected private investment growth.
The Socio-Economic Research
Centre’s executive director Lee
Heng Guie says that should this
trend continues, it can jeopardize
potential output growth and pro-
ductivity.
He notes that private invest-
ment growth in terms of gross
domestic product has improved
since the financial crisis, but notes
that if the absolute growth rate re-
mains low, potential output to the
economy will be impacted.
16 | INTERNATIONAL
OUTLOOK
BOJ to offer brighter view of economy, exports: Sources
Leika Kihara
REUTERS/TOKYO
The Bank of Japan (BOJ) is ex-
pected to offer a more upbeat view
of the economy at this month’s
rate review than it did last month,
people familiar with the matter
said, as robust exports and facto-
ry output support recovery in the
world’s third-largest economy.
But the central bank will stress
its resolve to maintain its massive
monetary stimulus, as the export-
driven recovery has yet to boost
private consumption and infla-
Wait and see
Security guards stand near an Air China aircraft on the tarmac of Shanghai Pudong International Airport in Shanghai. China’s national airline
said Friday it had canceled some flights to the North Korean capital, Pyongyang, due to poor demand but it had not suspended all flights there.
Aramco upbeat on oil
market despite US boom
Jessica Summers
BLOOMBERG/NEW YORK
The global oil market is mov-
ing closer to balance even as in-
creases in United States oil pro-
duction push prices down in the
short-term, Saudi Arabian Oil
Co. Chief Executive Officer Amin
Nasser said.
“This is not a good indication
of where the market is likely to
be headed going forward, as the
large new production capacity
and investment we will need in
the future are lagging,” Nasser
said during an event at Columbia
University in New York Friday.
“While the short-term mar-
ket is pointing to a surplus of oil,
the supply required in the coming
years is falling behind.”
Many indicators are pointing
to a more balanced market, Nass-
er said.
The combined inventories of
countries in the Organization for
Economic Cooperation and De-
velopment (OECD) are flattening
and poised to drop, among other
ACQUISITION
Apple steps in for big stake in Toshiba chip business
Reuter
TOKYO
Apple Inc. is considering team-
ing up with its supplier Foxconn
to bid for Toshiba Corp’s semi-
conductor business, Japanese
public broadcaster NHK reported
on Friday — the latest twist in the
sale of the world’s second-biggest
flash memory chipmaker.
The United States technolo-
gy giant is considering investing
at least several billion dollars to
take a stake of more than 20 per-
cent as part of a plan that would
have Toshiba keep a partial hold-
ing so the business remains un-
der US and Japanese control,
NHK reported, citing unidenti-
fied sources.
The idea would be to allay
Japanese government concerns
about any transfer of sensitive
technology to investors it deems a
potential risk to national security,
the broadcaster said.
Apple was not immediately
available to comment.
Taiwan’s Foxconn, formally
known as Hon Hai Precision In-
dustry, declined to comment. A
Toshiba spokesman said he could
tion, the sources told Reuters.
“The economy is doing quite
well. The problem is it’s not trans-
lating into higher prices,” one of
the sources said, conceding that
underlying inflation remains
“surprisingly weak.”
“Exports and output are gath-
ering momentum,” another
source said, adding that a recent
slew of positive data has height-
ened the chance the BOJ will up-
grade its economic view.
Last month, the BOJ said Ja-
pan’s economy is “recovering mod-
erately as a trend.” The central
Many indicators pointing
to more balanced oil
market, Aramco CEO
says
Mega IPO plan still
underway
signs that the market is tightening,
he said.
Saudi Arabia, the Organization
of Petroleum Exporting Coun-
tries’ (OPEC) biggest producer, is
cutting output as it leads efforts to
eliminate a global crude glut and
bolster prices. The country pro-
duced almost 10 million barrels a
day in March, it reported to OPEC.
All the country’s oil was
pumped by Saudi Aramco, as the
company is known.
Aramco, which has agreed to
pay Royal Dutch Shell Plc. US$2.2
billion to breakup a 19-year refin-
ing partnership known as Moti-
va Enterprises LLC, is discussing
several refining and marketing
joint ventures in Southeast Asia,
such as Indonesia, Nasser said.
not comment on specific trans-
actions.
Foxconn, which participated
in the first round of the chip sale
auction, has been considered a na-
tional security risk due to its ties
with China. The bulk of Apple’s
iPhones are made at Foxconn’s ex-
tensive manufacturing base there.
NHK said Apple wants Fox-
conn to own a stake of around 30
percent of Toshiba’s chip busi-
ness.
An investment by Apple would
be its first direct stake in a major
global memory chipmaker, as it
seeks to secure a stable supply of
key components. Samsung Elec-
tronics is the biggest maker of
flash memory chips, followed by
Toshiba, SK Hynix and US-based
Micron Technology Inc.
The NHK report comes as
Western Digital Corp., Toshiba’s
partner and one of the bidders
for its chip business, warned this
week that the Japanese firm’s
plans to sell its chip unit violates
a joint venture contract. Western
Digital wants to be given exclu-
sive negotiating rights.
The auction of Toshiba’s prized
chips asset is essential to the com-
bank will likely remove the phrase
“as a trend” to signal its confidence
that the recovery is gaining mo-
mentum, the sources said.
The BOJ is also likely to offer a
more optimistic view on exports
and output than in March, when
it said they were “picking up,” the
sources said.
The BOJ is widely expected
to keep monetary settings un-
changed at its two-day rate review
that ends April 27. At the meeting,
it will also review its quarterly pro-
jections and its assessment of eco-
nomic and price developments.
With about 60 percent to 70
percent of its exports going to
Asia, it’s very much focused on
growth in this area, which in-
cludes looking for investments
within China’s downstream sec-
tor. The company is also evalu-
ating opportunities in the US
as part of its plan to increase its
global refining and marketing ca-
pacity to between 8 million and 10
million barrels a day.
“As part of this effort, we will
build on our Motiva business in
the US once the transaction is
completed between Shell and Ar-
amco,” he said.
With the payment to Shell,
which includes debt, Aramco’s
Saudi Refining unit will take full
ownership of the Motiva Enter-
prises name and legal entity, in-
cluding the largest refinery in the
US at Port Arthur in Texas.
Aramco is planning what may
be the world’s largest stock sale.
The kingdom is courting for-
eign investors as it seeks to di-
versify its economy and gears up
for the planned sale of a 5 per-
pany’s plans to cover multi-bil-
lion dollar write-downs at its US
nuclear unit Westinghouse.
Those costs have plunged the
Japanese conglomerate into cri-
sis, prompting it even to warn that
it may not be able to continue as a
going concern.
Toshiba has narrowed the field
of bidders for its chip unit to four
suitors, sources have said: US
chipmaker Broadcom Ltd., which
has partnered with private equity
firm Silver Lake Partners LP; SK
Hynix; Western Digital; and Fox-
conn, the world’s largest contract
electronics maker.
Apple was not part of any of
those four bids, according to the
person. It’s unclear whether Ap-
ple participated in the first round
of the auction, which sources
have said drew around 10 offers.
Shares in Toshiba fell more
than 5 percent on Friday, hit by
a Bloomberg report that the chip
business sale had been temporar-
ily put on hold to address the con-
cerns raised by Western Digital.
“It is not true Toshiba has put
the chip sale process on hold,” a
spokesman said.
Separately, Toshiba is likely to
Japan’s economy has shown
signs of life, as a rebound in over-
seas demand helped exports grow
by the fastest pace in more than
two years in February.
Analysts polled by Reuters ex-
pect exports to rise for a fourth
straight month in March.
Factory output rose at its fast-
est pace in eight months in Feb-
ruary and job losses hit a two-
decade low, a sign the economy
was running at near full-capacity
mainly on external tailwinds.
An estimate by the BOJ showed
the output gap, which turns posi-
Reuters/Aly Song
cent stake in the company. Depu-
ty Crown Prince Mohammed bin
Salman, the king’s influential son,
has said the company could be
worth more than $2 trillion.
The initial public offering will
probably take place in the second
half of 2018, Nasser previously said.
The IPO is “on track. Every-
thing is going very well,” Nasser
said Friday.
Last month, the Saudi govern-
ment slashed the level of taxation
imposed on the company, lowering
the rate to 50 percent from 85 per-
cent in a bid to boost the valuation.
Helped by the lower levy, the
company’s oil and natural gas re-
serves equivalent to 310 billion
barrels could make it worth be-
tween $1 trillion to $1.5 trillion,
based on valuations for other pro-
ducers, Sanford C. Bernstein &
Co. said last month.
A 5 percent sale of a $2 trillion
company would bring in about
$100 billion, dwarfing the $25 bil-
lion snared by Chinese Internet re-
tailer Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.
in the world’s largest IPO in 2014.
get the go-ahead from creditors
to offer its chip business stake as
collateral for new loans and loan
commitments worth around 1
trillion yen (US$9.2 billion), peo-
ple briefed on the matter said.
Access to fresh funds would
help tide Toshiba over before it
can complete the sale of the chips
business.
Some small lenders have
baulked at the idea as they have
been offered other Toshiba assets
as collateral, such as group com-
panies’ shares and real estate, but
Toshiba’s main lenders expect all
creditors to approve the move,
the people said.
In exchange for the chip unit
stake as collateral, Toshiba hopes
to get about 300 billion yen in
fresh loans and be able to draw
down existing loan commitments
worth 680 billion yen.
An executive at one of the main
creditor banks said it was still un-
certain if Western Digital would
agree to Toshiba offering its chip
unit stake as collateral.
“We would be running risks of
being sued by our shareholders if
we provide loans to Toshiba with-
out collateral,” the executive said.
tive when an economy’s demand
exceeds supply, posted its first
positive reading in seven quarters
in October to December.
But core consumer prices rose
just 0.2 percent in February from
a year earlier, casting doubt on the
BOJ’s forecast that the economic
recovery will prod firms to raise
prices and wages.
An index stripping away the cost
of energy showed consumer infla-
tion stood at 0.1 percent in February,
suggesting that companies remain
wary of raising prices for fear of scar-
ing away cost-savvy consumers.
RETAIL
Young, busy Koreans
prefer spending time
at unmanned stores
Song Su-hyun
and Yim Ji-min
THE KOREA HERALD/ANN/SEOUL
People passing by the streets
of Bangbae-dong, a neighbor-
hood in southern Seoul, look back
to check out the unusual atmo-
sphere in the Newdle 365 store,
one of few unmanned conve-
nience stores in the city.
The store, having seven vend-
ing machines and no cashier, is
crowded with students during
busy afterschool hours, but there
is no need to wait for long as cus-
tomers can easily purchase prod-
ucts with the press of a button
Located next to a primary
school, the vending machines are
mostly filled with popular chil-
dren’s snacks, but many head to-
ward one that is entirely dedi-
cated to instant cup noodles and
boast at least 20 flavors.
Those in need of some change
can easily do so by using a bill
changer at the corner. Next to the
bill changer are microwaves and
water dispensers that are needed
to heat up the products they have
just purchased.
“I visit this store quite often
with my friends after school or af-
ter my taekwondo lessons,” said
an elementary school student
who regularly comes to the store.
“We like to visit the store be-
cause we feel like we are at home.
At other normal convenience
stores it feels as if the shopping
assistants are watching us the
whole time.”
The unmanned store also pro-
vides free WiFi enabling the cus-
tomers to make better use of their
time during their stay at the store.
Run by a company that began
as a manufacturer of vending ma-
chines 20 years ago, Newdle 365
has succeeded in differentiat-
ing itself as a 24-hour unmanned
convenience store brand.
At a With Me convenience
store in Coex Mall in Samseong-
dong, hurried businesspeople
grab some morning food and cof-
fee, scan barcodes with a moni-
tor on a self-counter and pay for
them in a few seconds.
“It’s incredibly speedy without
unnecessary procedures or un-
wanted time wasting during hu-
man interaction at usual stores,”
said a female customer who drops
by the store to get her breakfast
almost every morning.
The With Me store launched by
retail giant E-mart does have hu-
man cashiers, but it also installed
a self-checkout machine to meet
the rising demand for unmanned
services.
“We are here to serve custom-
ers who need some help for buy-
ing hot food with no barcodes on
Slow day
People stand in front of an electronic stock board of a securities firm
showing Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 that fell 65.24 points to 18,361.60 in Tokyo
on Friday. Asian stocks were lower on Friday as investors in the region
had many reasons to worry about rising geopolitical tensions and the
situation on the Korean Peninsula. Many markets were closed for
public holidays.
MONDAY April 17, 2017
The BOJ now projects core
consumer inflation to hit 1.5 per-
cent in the current fiscal year end-
ing in March 2018, and accelerate
to 1.7 percent the following year.
Some analysts say the BOJ will
be forced to slash the price fore-
casts, which far exceed private-sec-
tor projections of around 1 percent.
“The BOJ’s price forecasts are
too optimistic, so there’s a very
high chance they will be revised
down. This may happen at its
next quarterly forecast review in
April,” said Kazuo Momma, a for-
mer top BOJ economist.
it,” said a cashier at the store.
“Most customers prefer using
the self-checkout system.”
The first unmanned conve-
nience store to launch in Korea
was a GS25 branch at Incheon In-
ternational Airport nine years ago.
The idea gained a lot of atten-
tion at the time and the service
expanded to other areas with high
foot-traffic, such as Gimpo Inter-
national Airport.
Unmanned services are also
spreading across industries to
parcel delivery, laundry and even
entertainment industries.
Coin karaoke rooms that are
not watched over by owners are
thriving near university campus-
es, such as the Sinchon and Hong-
dae areas, due to its high populari-
ty among the younger generation.
Since it costs karaoke fans
nearly 20,000 won (US$17.6) per
hour to rent a conventional kara-
oke room, young students cannot
easily go singing alone. Students
form a crew to rent a singing room
for a period of time they want.
A coin karaoke room costs 1,000
won for four songs. Such machines
have become popular among
young customers due to afford-
ability as well as easy accessibility.
“I feel awkward when sing-
ing in front of many, especially I
am mindful of owners of singing
rooms who would be listening to
my singing, so I prefer going alone
to these unmanned rooms,“ said a
student at Yonsei University who
often goes to the coin karaoke
rooms near her school.
”Time-wise, it’s more economi-
cal because I don‘t have to spend
time asking friends about their
availability to go to traditional sing-
ing rooms, and also efficiency-wise,
I am more satisfied with this coin
system, since I can go whenever
I would like to sing with several
thousands of won to relieve stress.“
Rather than being viewed as a
side effect of individualization in
today’s modern society, the coin
karaoke rooms are seen as a virtue
that expands the scope of activities
that individuals can enjoy alone.
However, some automated ser-
vices still seem to be in need of
some human touch.
Despite a sign that hangs on the
Newdle 365 store’s wall, which
states “The unmanned conve-
nience store began its business
with the belief that customers will
put their mature citizenship into
action,” most of the empty food
containers are left on the tables as
customers do not bother to clean
up after eating.
The unmanned parcel deliv-
ery firms and laundry businesses
also face some problems as some
of the customers do not come to
pick up their items on time.
AP/Koji Sasahara
MONDAY April 17, 2017
US urges China to open trade
Andrew Mayeda
and Saleha Mohsin
BLOOMBERG/WASHINGTON
The United States stopped
short of branding China a cur-
rency manipulator, but urged the
world’s second-largest economy
to let the yuan rise with market
forces and embrace more trade.
No major trading partner is
manipulating its currency for an
unfair trade advantage, accord-
ing to the first foreign-currency
report released by the Treasury
Department under President
Donald Trump on Friday. It kept
China, South Korea, Japan, Tai-
wan, Germany and Switzerland
on its foreign-exchange monitor-
ing list.
“China currently has an ex-
tremely large and persistent bi-
lateral trade surplus with the
United States, which underscores
the need for further opening of
the Chinese economy to Ameri-
can goods and services,” as well as
quicker reforms to boost house-
hold consumption, according to
the Treasury report.
Trump declared on Wednes-
day that he will back away from a
campaign promise to name China
a currency manipulator, a move
that would have created friction
between the world’s largest econ-
omies as they try to boost trade
China secured US$347
billion in goods trade
surplus with US in 2016
US hasn’t branded any
country manipulator since
1994
cooperation and address North
Korea’s nuclear threat.
Trump, in a Wall Street Journal
interview, said China has not ma-
nipulated the yuan for months,
while accusing nations that he
did not identify of devaluing their
currencies and saying the dollar is
getting too strong.
The Treasury report said that
for a decade China engaged in
one-way large-scale interven-
tions to hold down the curren-
cy, and then only allowed it to
strengthen gradually — a prac-
tice that imposed “significant and
long-lasting hardship on Ameri-
can workers and companies.”
While China has been inter-
vening to prevent a depreciation
of the yuan, its selling of foreign
currency reserves abated early
this year, Treasury said.
Now, China needs to show that
its lack of intervention in the cur-
rency markets “to resist appre-
ciation” over the past three years
is a “durable” policy by allowing
the yuan to strengthen “once ap-
preciation pressures resume,” the
Treasury said.
Like the last report by the
Obama administration in Octo-
ber, China met only one of the
three criteria — for having a large
trade deficit — that is used by the
Treasury as a threshold for ma-
nipulation.
China’s US$347 billion goods
trade surplus with the US was the
largest of major trading partners
last year, according to the report.
Taiwan also met one condition,
while the other four met two.
The Treasury said Germany
has a “responsibility” to help bal-
ance global demand and trade
flows. Europe’s biggest economy
should use fiscal policy to en-
courage strong domestic demand,
which would put “upward pres-
sure” on the euro. Switzerland
“could increase reliance on poli-
cy rates in order to limit the need
for foreign-exchange interven-
tions, which should be made more
transparent.”
In Asia, Taiwan, Japan and
South Korea were urged to keep
interventions to a minimum, and
aspire to have flexible and trans-
parent exchange rate policies.
“The US cannot and will not
bear the burden of an interna-
tional trading system that unfair-
ly disadvantages our exports and
unfairly advantages the exports of
INTERNATIONAL | 17
BUSINESS BRIEF
Rest and recharge
our trading partners through arti-
ficially distorted exchange rates,”
the report stated.
“Treasury is committed to ag-
gressively and vigilantly monitor-
ing and combating unfair curren-
cy practices.’’
The department is required by
law to report to Congress twice a
year on whether America’s ma-
jor trading partners are gaming
their currencies. The report is the
government’s formal channel to
impose the manipulator designa-
tion, leading to a year of negotia-
tions for a solution and penalties
if the practice continues.
The US has not branded any
country a manipulator since 1994.
The Treasury left the criteria
for manipulation unchanged at
having a trade surplus with the
US above $20 billion; having a
current-account surplus amount-
ing to more than 3 percent of Bloomberg/Mark Kauzlarich
gross domestic product; repeated A Bosch Ltd. power station for a Daimler AG Mercedes Benz
currency depreciating by buying S550e plug-in hybrid vehicle sits on display during the 2017 New
foreign assets equivalent to 2 per- York International Auto Show (NYIAS) in New York on April
cent of output over the year. 13. The NYIAS, North America’s first and largest-attended auto
Commerce Secretary Wil- show dating back to 1900, showcases an incredible collection of
bur Ross has said that the issue cutting-edge design and extraordinary innovation.
of “currency misalignment” —
which could also include uninten-
tional devaluations — will be ad- Uber books losses despite soaring bookings
dressed in a study of trade abuses
by nations that run large surplus- BENGALURU: Ride-hailing service Uber Technologies Inc. generated
es with the US, which is due to be US$6.5 billion in revenue last year and its gross bookings doubled to
ready in June. $20 billion, the company said on Friday.
Its adjusted net loss was $2.8 billion, excluding the operation in
China it sold last year, Uber said.
As a private company, now worth $68 billion, Uber does not report
its financial results publicly. It confirmed the figures in an emailed
statement after Bloomberg reported the results.
Uber did not provide first quarter figures, but a spokeswoman said
they “seem to be in line with expectations.”
For the final quarter of 2016, gross bookings increased 28 percent
from the previous quarter, to $6.9 billion. But Uber’s losses grew to
$991 million in the period, as revenues grew 74 percent to $2.9 billion
from the third quarter.
In a separate emailed statement, Rachel Holt, Uber’s regional gen-
eral manager for the United States and Canada, said: “We’re fortunate
to have a healthy and growing business, giving us the room to make
the changes we know are needed on management and accountability,
our culture and organization, and our relationship with drivers.”
Uber has been rocked by a number of setbacks lately, including
detailed accusations of sexual harassment from a former female
employee and a video showing Chief Executive Travis Kalanick harshly
berating an Uber driver.
The company is in the process of hiring a chief operating officer to
help Kalanick manage it, repair its tarnished image and improve its
culture.
Two of Uber’s high-level executives recently said they intended to
leave, and last week the company’s communications head announced
her departure. — Reuters

United modifies policy for booking crew

Ready to roll: A worker packages newly manufactured bowling pins at the QubicaAMF Bowling Worldwide LLC facility in Lowville, New
York. Americans have seen the growth of their wages leveling off lately, contrary to expectations that a steadily falling jobless rate will
quickly lead to a sustained acceleration.
LABOR
Why Robust US job market isn’t producing better pay
Shobhana Chandra
BLOOMBERG/WASHINGTON
Growth in Americans’ wag-
es has been leveling off lately,
contrary to expectations that a
steadily falling jobless rate will
quickly lead to a sustained accel-
eration.
Blame it on dismal productiv-
ity and lingering, albeit diminish-
ing, slack even with unemploy-
ment at an almost 10-year low of
4.5 percent.
The government’s most recent
jobs report showed the under-
employment rate — the broadest
gauge of joblessness because it
also includes marginally attached
workers and those working part
time who had prefer a full-time
position — also has been falling
though it’s still higher than just be-
fore the 2007 to 2009 recession.
Data this week were also less
encouraging. The quits rate, a
gauge of workers’ willingness to
voluntarily leave their jobs be-
cause they’re confident of finding
a better position, eased in Febru-
ary to 2.1 percent, matching its av-
erage since the end of 2015.
Faster turnover would imply
workers are able to bargain for
more as labor demand exceeds
supply.
Weak productivity is also be-
hind employers’ reluctance to fat-
ten paychecks. Because firms are
hiring lots of workers and output
is expanding slowly, they are try-
ing to protect their profits at a
time when raising prices has be-
come difficult.
Over the last five years, produc-
tivity growth has averaged 0.7 per-
cent a quarter, the slowest since a
similar period ending 1982.
That “is certainly dampening”
wage gains, Joseph LaVorgna,
chief United States economist for
Deutsche Bank Securities, wrote
in a note to clients.
Federal Reserve Chair Janet
Yellen this week called low pro-
ductivity a “significant problem”
and said the reasons behind it were
unclear, making it hard to predict
when there would be a pickup.
Another hurdle is that compa-
nies usually raise wages by at least
the rate of inflation, which is only
just starting to stir after being
stubbornly low the past few years,
said Ryan Sweet, an economist at
Moody’s Analytics Inc.
At some businesses, organized
labor groups could use a pickup in
prices to negotiate bigger pay in-
creases. Of course, faster inflation
would also circle back to squeeze
real take-home earnings for ev-
eryone.
Projections vary on the extent
and timing of any wage-growth
acceleration. Economists at Cap-
ital Economics point out that the
share of small companies plan-
ning to increase worker compen-
sation is consistent with annual
growth in average hourly earn-
ings advancing toward 3.5 percent
by year-end. At Bank of America
Merrill Lynch, analysts project 3
percent by early 2018.
From current levels, that in-
dicates modest further gains the
rest of 2017.
Even the improvement in pay
growth has yet to spread to all in-
Bloomberg/Luke Sharrett
dustries. In March, for example,
average hourly earnings in profes-
sional and business services post-
ed the second-biggest monthly ad-
vance in records to 2006.
Without that 0.9 percent jump
last month, overall wage growth
would have been flat, according to
Morgan Stanley economist Rob-
ert Rosener.
What’s worse, “wage growth in
a broad range of industries may
be leveling off, or even slowing,”
Rosener cautioned last week in a
note.
Morgan Stanley’s wage growth
diffusion index shows only 38.5
percent of industries now have
above-trend rates, down from
February’s 46.2 percent and well
below a high of 61.5 percent in
August.
In the meantime, consumer
confidence surveys show wide-
spread optimism that bigger pay-
checks are on the horizon.
While hopes are riding high,
actual wage performance is what
counts in terms of household
spending and the economy.
TOKYO: United Continental Holdings Inc. issued an updated policy to
ensure crew traveling on its aircraft are booked at least 60 minutes
prior to departure, according to a United spokeswoman.
“This ensures situations like Flight 3411 never happen again,” she
said.
The change comes after video showed passenger David Dao being
pulled from his seat and dragged down the aisle after refusing to give
up his seat on the flight. Dao suffered concussion, a broken nose and
two lost teeth, according to one of his lawyers on Thursday. Attorney
Thomas Demetrio said that Dao will “probably” sue.
United is reacting to pressure from the public-relations fiasco that
blew up after the video spread on social media.
Chief Executive Officer Oscar Munoz initially called Dao “disruptive”
and “belligerent” and apologized only for the need to “re-accom-
modate” him, but later struck a more contrite tone in a nationally
televised interview.
Competing airlines are taking note of the controversy and making
changes of their own. Delta Air Lines Inc. increased the payouts its
airport agents can offer passengers on overbooked flights to US$2,000
from $800, according to a memo seen by Bloomberg.
While United is modifying its policy when it comes to booking its
own crew, it didn’t say if the policy of overbooking flights will be
changed. The company said it is conducting a full review, and it will
announce the results by April 30. — AP
Soros sued in $10 billion mine row
LONDON: Companies controlled by Israeli mining magnate Beny Stein-
metz sued fellow billionaire George Soros, claiming he cost them at
least US$10 billion through a defamation campaign that stripped them
of rights to an iron ore deposit in Guinea and other business opportuni-
ties around the world.
Soros funded law firms, transparency groups, investigators and
government officials in Guinea in a coordinated effort to ensure BSG
Resources Ltd. lost the rights to the Simandou deposit in April 2014,
BSGR said in a complaint filed Friday in Manhattan federal court.
After years of Steinmetz’s companies accusing Soros of propagating
corruption allegations which resulted in their loss of Simandou, this
is the first time they are taking direct legal action against him. In the
complaint, BSGR alleges that Soros was driven by a grievance between
the two dating back to 1998 and a “long-standing animus toward the
state of Israel.”
Soros’s spokesman Michael Vachon did not immediately respond to
an email or messages left on his work and mobile phone outside of
regular business hours. — Bloomberg

TECHNOLOGY

The iPhone of cars? Apple enters self-driving car race

Michael Liedtke
ASSOCIATED PRESS/SAN FRANCISCO
Apple is joining the fiercely com-
petitive race to design self-driving
cars, raising the possibility that a
company that has already re-shaped
culture with its iPhone may try to
transform transportation, too.
Ending years of speculation,
Apple’s late entry into a crowded
field was made official Friday with
the disclosure that the Califor-
nia Department of Motor Vehi-
cles had awarded a permit for the
company to start testing its self-
driving car technology on public
roads in the state.
The permit covers three ve-
hicles — all 2015 Lexus RX 450h
hybrid SUVs — and six individual
drivers. California law requires
people to be in a self-driving car
who can take control if something
goes wrong. Apple confirmed its
arrival in the market, but would
not discuss its intentions.
The Cupertino, California,
company instead pointed to a
statement that it issued in De-
cember. That comment came af-
ter Apple informed federal regu-
lators of its interest in self-driving
cars in a letter from Steve Kenner,
a former Ford Motor executive
who is now the company’s direc-
tor of product integrity.
“Apple is investing heavily in
machine learning and autonomous
systems,” the company said then.
“There are many potential ap-
plications for these technologies,
including the future of transpor-
tation.” Like others, Apple be-
lieves self-driving cars could ease
congestion and save millions of
people who die annually in traffic
accidents often caused by drunk
or distracted motorists.
Self-driving cars also are likely
to yield a gold mine, another rea-
son that Apple is exploring an ex-
pansion beyond its main business
of making phones, tablets and
personal computers.
Although the ongoing popular-
ity of the iPhone has helped Ap-
ple remain the world’s most valu-
able company, it has not been able
to invent another breakthrough
product since the 2010 debut
of its iPad, which is now in the
throes of a three-year sales slump.
The dry spell has raised per-
sisting questions whether Ap-
ple lost some of its trend-setting
magic with the death of co-found-
er Steve Jobs in 2011.
Apple will be vying against 29
other companies that already
have California permits to test
self-driving cars. The list in-
cludes major automakers, includ-
ing Ford, General Motors, BMW,
Volkswagen and Tesla, as well as
one of its biggest rivals in technol-
ogy, Google, whose testing of self-
driving cars has been spun off into
an affiliate called Waymo.
Since Google began its work on
self-driving vehicles eight years
ago, Waymo’s fleet of self-driving
cars has logged more than 3.2 mil-
lion kilometers on the road.
That means Apple has a long
way to catch up in self-driving
technology, but it’s also a com-
pany with a history of trailing in
markets that it eventually revo-
lutionizes. It was not the first to
introduce a digital music play-
er, cellphone, or tablet before its
iPod, iPhone and iPad came out.
With US$246 billion in cash,
Apple also could easily afford to
buy technology that accelerates its
development of self-driving cars.
There has been recurring spec-
ulation that Apple might even-
tually acquire Tesla, which has a
market value of about $50 billion.
Neither Apple nor Tesla has given
any inkling that they are interest-
ed in joining forces, though.
Speculation about Apple’s in-
terest in expanding into automo-
biles began swirling in 2015 amid
media reports that the company
had begun secretly working on
building its own electric car un-
der the name project “Titan.” Ap-
ple never confirmed the existence
of Titan, which is now believed to
be dead.
18 | MONDAY April 17, 2017
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Heaven Funeral Home @ Gatot Soebroto, Jl.
Abdul Rachman Saleh No. 24 Jakarta Pusat.
Call: 021-3458788
SENTRA MEDIKA Funeral Home. Crematory.
Colombarium Jl. Mayor Oking Jaya Atmaja
No. 9. Telephone ( 021 ) 87907001,
87567001, Fax ( 021) 87907307 Website:
www.rumahdukasentramedika.com
HOUSES
FOR RENT
Big Garden Pool Complex Kemang Cilandak
Cipete Lebak bulus Pondok Indah 4/5Bdrs
U$2000-U$5000 Call 0816859551
GREEN3STORY Glass house for rent in
Kemang Selatan Jakarta, equip with elevator.
Total Building 500m2, 4BR & big garage.
EMMY 0818814478
Jl. Dharmawangsa XII/130 Keb Baru, Lux,
900/836m2, quiet loc, pool, 4+3bdrm, for
expat, hub 081210600676.
MASSAGE
RELAX MORE,SPEND LESS.Make yourself
much comfort&relief with an entertainingly
massage by young man.Call KEVIN
085770722573
MOVING
International, Domestic and Local Moving -
Office Moving - Home Search - Property
Management Services - Orientation Services
- Immigration Services. Jakarta (021)
29612990 Indonesia@SantaFeRelo.com
PET SHOP
Calico Petshop. Ampera Selatan – Jatiasih,
Bekasi. Cat Food. Dog Food. Accessories.
Promo of the day. (Dandy) Ph: 0813 1010
5055 PIN BB: 524775AF
F. J. PETSHOP. Ruko Pulo Gebang Permai
Blok D5 No. 14, Cakung – Jakarta Timur
13950. Call: 021 – 4601611. Visit us:
www.fjpetshop.com
Groovy - The Ultimate Partner for Pet Well- LPK Nabila Family Care, labor agent Baby sit-
ness Pet stores & grooming in Kemang, ter, Nanny, Housemaid. Distribution
Radio Dalam, BSD & Bintaro. Vetcare Clin- JABODETABEK and outside Java (all Indone-
ic. Pet Transport (international & domestic). sian). Info Call: 021 – 7070 9255 / 021 – 7056
Boarding. Pet Taxi. www.groovy.co.id 5605
CV IARA SURYA MANDIRI. Ready stock:
Baby Sitters, Nannies, housekeepers. Call:
Himme Hammie Petshop, Bukit Golf Medit- 021-29440085, 081399164135,
erania, Rukan Eksklusif Blok G No. 62, Jakar- 081905096863. Jl. Sumurbor Raya No 101
ta Utara 14470. Contact: 08567808005 /
www.himepetshop.com
Rt 006 Rw 012, Kel. Kalideres, Jakarta Barat
(samping Telkom).
LPK TIARA CIPTA, Smart Care for Smart
Kingdom Pet Shop and Pet care. Jl. Wijaya I
Kids. Babysitter and governess, training and
No. 73, Kebayoran Baru, Jakarta Selatan. Ph: JADCO, DRIVER SERVICE PROVIDER, DAILY
service center. Call as now 021 7590 2862,
021 – 72798938, 91066500. Web: – MONTHLY / Facebook / Twitter / Google +:
7075 1713, 9818 3357 or
www.kingdombreeder.com Jadco regal / In LinkedIn: Jadco agung agung amy_s321@yahoo.com / info@tiaracipt-
priyono. Call: 085217125321, 08881969237, ababysitter.com
Email: Jadcoa@yahoo.com
For your pets, coming to Sakura 9 Petshop.
Some accessories and all about your pet Private Driver! Marsudi Suwarna Adi.
here. Grooming. Limited Boarding. Jl. Barito JASA SUPIR PRIBADI “SMB”. Do you need a Whether you are in a vacation, tour, or busi-
II 27-C. Call: 021-7236933 professional driver, Expatriates? We can ness trip. I will be happy to be your personal
speak English. Please Call: 087881016263 / driver & guide. Please contact me at
jasasupirpribadi.com +6285226126069 or send email to suwarnaa-
SNOOPY PETS GREEN GARDEN. Jl. Panjang di@gmail.com
Ruko Green Garden Blok A7 / 60, Kedoya
Utara, Jakarta Barat. Ph: 021 – 4561 6611 or
visit us at snoopy_pets@yahoo.com CV KARYA BUNDA MANDIRI. You call us, we PT. MOESTAR INDONESIA, Citra driver pro-
send you! Male and female sitters and fessional service, driver needs to provide for
housekeepers to all places in Indonesia. Call: personal or company, the price we offer com-
OFFICES 021 - 5417671 petitive with management fee of 15%. Call:
0815 1467 1467 (24 hours)
FOR SALE
We has reliable Baby Sitter! LPK MUTIARA 1.
Gudang.Komp.Industri Jatiuwung
Most from Java. Educated worker. Honest. PT PERKASA SATRIA NUSANTARA. We has
Tangerang.Serang 3km Luas 3000
Persevering. Call: Mrs. Darma experienced drivers, control of the streets of
lt.5000,300jt/th sms 082112271227
0 8 7 8 7 8 8 3 6 2 2 7 the capital and outside the city, a high work-
0818.417070/+62 8129133787
/lpkmutiaradarma1.blogspot.com ing professional with friendly attitude, polite
and courteous.If you need us, please call:
Tedi Sofyan 021-89647947 / 085779641777
TRANSLATIONS / 081314641777
LPK ERA PRIMA. The best educate and deliv-
ABSE TRANSLATION&INTERPRETING SER- er services nannies, nurses & nursing elderly
VICE Sworn, Non Sworn for 12 Lngs. Ph:021- (Jabotabek & outside city). Call 08787-
8352323,8281013 Email: bse@cbn.net.id, 5958316 PT. SMS - SIM. Professional driver. Familiar
territory Jakarta and outside. Call: 021
87786477, EMAIL: sarana_sms@yahoo.com
SERVICES LPK MITRA KARYA, baby sitter and nanny
or visit us at pt-sms.com
services. Jl. Raya Pendowo No.6 Limo,
ALDERA DRIVER Providing solutions is very Cinere, Depok, ready to help you contact now
easy and full responsibility, Satisfaction and Nita 0812 1823 9828
comfort is our goal. DAILY – MONTHLY. Call:
021 – 4222 258
LPK MITRA UTAMA, our inter-sitter to your
Bandung City Tour & Rent provide driver ser- home. Are you busy? Your child must be Best quality and quantity sitter. Don’t hesitate
vice, daily or monthly to Bandung and its sur- maintained and cared for. Contact me, Ali to contact us,“Yayasan DWI ASIH”. Ph: (021)
roundings. Call : 081 9100-920-90 www.ban- 021-7888 4359 / 021-8075 4448 / 0857 1884 - 9824 7515 or Jasman Tedjo Pamungkas
dung-citytour.com 8857 or visit us lpkmitrautama.blogspot.com 08129566433
LOCAL BEAT
Sunday brunch at Ayana Midplaza Jakarta
The Ayana Midplaza
Jakarta has launched a
fun new Sunday brunch
concept for families.
It offers hours of
poolside relaxation as
well as a kid’s corner fea-
turing exciting games,
engaging toys and deli-
cious bites designed for
Ayana’s youngest guests.
Priced at Rp 388,000
net per person, the Sun-
day brunch at Ayana’s
Rasa restaurant prom-
ises to deliver the ulti-
mate day out for fami-
lies.
Parents have an opportunity to relax by the pool after
brunch, while children enjoy some poolside fun in the after-
noon.
Indulge in specialties such as BBQ grill, a Japanese sushi
corner, a hot wok counter and a special kid’s buffet. Courtesy of Ayana Midplaza Jakarta
Uber celebrates Kartini Day
Transportation network
company Uber is celebrat-
ing Kartini Day, which is ob-
served annually on April 21,
by highlighting its women
driver associates.
Uber riders are encour-
aged to talk with Uber’s wom- Courtesy of Uber
en drivers and learn about the struggles they go through.
They can take part in a photo and caption contest on Instagram and get a chance to win prizes that they
can share with the Uber drivers.
Photos can be tagged with @Uber_IDN and must have captions that tell viewers how the women driver’s
story moved them, with #SheMovesUs as a required hashtag.
The 21 best photos will be picked for prizes. Riders can get Rp 300,000 in Uber credits, while the women
driver associate can win Rp 300,000.
Artotel launches online shop
Hotel management company Artotel Indo-
nesia is launching an online shop for its curated
merchandise.
The website, artofolife.artotelindonesia.com, is
an expansion of Artotel’s Art of Life independent
merchandise brand, which the company curates
to support emerging contemporary local artists.
“Our newly launched e-commerce is expected
to fulfill the market demand of our Artotel mer-
chandise, without distance limitations to our ho-
tels. Now people can simply access our official
website, choose products, and we will send the
products immediately,” said Eduard Rudolf Pan-
gkerego, corporate general manager of Artotel In-
donesia.
Art of Life merchandise was previously only
sold at the lobbies of Artotel properties. As an in-
troduction, the online version of Art of Life is of-
fering discounts of Rp 50,000 for new members
who make minimal purchases of Rp 250,000. Courtesy of Artotel Indonesia
 MONDAY April 17, 2017 | 19

WHERE TO GO
CALENDAR OF EVENTS
FOREIGN CULTURAL lation through the archeological
CENTERS and anthropological data”
April 20 at 4 p.m.
•Goethe Institut Jakarta IIC Auditorium Jakarta
German Language Courses e-mail: eventi@itacultjkt.or.id
Registration from Monday at 9
a.m.-5 p.m.
Tuesday-Friday at 9 a.m.-6 p.m. TOUR GUIDE
Saturday in the 1st and 3rd Satur-
day in the month • Indonesian Heritage Society
10 a.m.-4 p.m. Goethe Institut provides free
Jakarta. tour at National
Contact: 021-23550208/021- Museum in
3983 0888 or kursus@jakarta. English.
goethe.org Every Tuesday at
10:30 a.m.
• Institut Francais Indonesia Every Thursday
France Language Courses at 10:30 a.m. and
IFI Thamrin, address: Jl. MH 1:30 p.m.
Thamrin No. 20, Jakarta Pu-
sat, CP: 021-23557951/52
Every second and fourth Satur-
day of the month at 10:30 a.m.
‘PUSAKO BUNDO’ by Krida Loka
IFI Wijaya, address: Jl. Wijaya I CP: Indonesian Heritage April 23 at 3 p.m.
No.48, Jakarta Selatan, CP: 021- Society Library 021-5725870/ Galeri Indonesia Kaya
7247064/7208133 heritagejkt.org www.indonesiakaya.com
kursus@ifi-id.com/ifi-id.com
‘Pusako Bundo’ tells the story of two sisters who love dancing. The older one has moved to the capital, while the younger one is still back home
• Erasmus Huis EXHIBITIONS with their parents. One day, the elder sibling comes home and finds herself in conflict with her sister over their differences in opinion on art.
Dutch Language Courses Which is better, traditional or modern art? What can the parents do to resolve this issue? The Krida Loka troupe will perform this play at Galeri
Indonesia Kaya on April 23 at 3 p.m.
Address: HR Rasuna Said Kav.
S-3 Kuningan Jakarta
Contact: 021-5241069/erasmush- motionbluejakarta.com April 30 at 3 p.m.
uis@minbuza.nl/erasmushuis-in. Galeri Indonesia Kaya
nlmission.org ARTS FESTIVAL www.indonesiakaya.com

• Mixed Feelings 02 FILM SCREENINGS

SEMINAR Illustration Exhibition
• Wasangka April 2 – May 6
April 23-30 at 10 a.m. - 6 p.m. That’s Life Coffee • The Crab
Bentara Budaya Jakarta thatslifecoffee.com April 20-21 at 6 p.m.
www.bentarabudaya.com Motion Blue Jakarta
motionbluejakarta.com • Saturday Night Live:
Jay James
TALK
April 29
• Pesona Sastra Jawa Cascade Lounge, Hotel Mulia
April 18 at 3:30 p.m. Senayan - Jakarta
• 3rd Annual Symposium for Bentara Budaya Jakarta Cp: 021 5747777 ext.4388/4488
Arbitrators and Mediators www.bentarabudaya.com • THE AFTER-HOURS
(ASAM) • Saturday Night Live: MOVIE: WOODY ALLEN’S
The Indonesian Academy for • Color Me Purple - HFGM • Leonardo & His Chris Mann MANHATTAN
Independent Arbitrators and Me- Liga Medika 2017 Impeccable Six May 20 April 20 at 8 p.m.
diators will be hosting the third April 29 April 22 at 6 p.m. Cascade Lounge, Hotel Mulia Kinosaurus - Jakarta
Annual Symposium for Arbitra- Komunitas Salihara Motion Blue Jakarta Senayan - Jakarta kinosaurusjakarta.com
tors and Mediators (ASAM) on Ligamedika.com
motionbluejakarta.com Cp: 021 5747777 ext.4388/4488 • ‘Masseria delle allodole’
April 26 at the Grand Sahid Jaya
in Central Jakarta. April 21 at 6:30 p.m.
• Angels By The Murky River IIC Auditorium Jakarta
This event will be the coun-
April 22 at 6 p.m.
PERFORMANCE
try’s largest symposium on arbi- THEATER PERFORMANCE
Serambi Salihara - Jakarta
tration and mediation. It has the
salihara.org
support of Indonesia’s Supreme
Court, Attorney General’s Office,
the government as well as vari-
CLASS
ous domestic and international
arbitration and mediation insti-
tutions. For more information, • Lagu Untuk Perempuan
please visit: http://medarbid.org/ by Ifa Fachir and His Mini
en/event/upcomingevents. Orchestra • Panggil Saja Aku Kartini
• The Wonderful World of April 22 at 3 p.m.
Disney On Ice by Annisa Hertami and
Galeri Indonesia Kaya Sri Krisna Encik (Script:
April 20 at 2:30 a.m – 4:30 p.m. www.indonesiakaya.com
April 21 at 2:30 a.m – 4:30 p.m. Landung Simatupang)
ICE — Indonesia Convention April 29 at 3 p.m.
• Kelas Fotografi Jalanan Exhibition Galeri Indonesia Kaya
March 8 – May 6 at 2 p.m. disneyoniceindonesia.com www.indonesiakaya.com
Serambi Salihara
salihara.org
MUSIC PERFORMANCES

• Andrea Maulana
‘N Friends Ft. ‘Ntang • ‘Alla luce del sole’
(Muchtar) & Raisa Putri April 28 at 6:30 p.m.
April 24-25 at 6 p.m. IIC Auditorium Jakarta
• Misi Nomor Satu
Motion Blue Jakarta
by Putri Ayudya

• America Latin Dance Club: • Love Box

PROMOTE YOUR EVENTS
Salsa April 17-19 at 6 p.m.
• Archeological Seminar April 18, 25 Motion Blue Jakarta For queries on placement of your events in The Jakarta Post’s WHERE TO GO section, please
“Pompeii: life, death and rebirth, Salihara - Jakarta motionbluejakarta.com send an email to wheretogo@thejakartapost.com / wtgjakarta@gmail.com or call Endang at (021)
the story of a city and of a popu- salihara.org 5300478 ext. 2034.

WHERE TO EAT IN JAKARTA

CAFES
Aphrodite Club Rasuna, Jl. Rasuna Said,
Kuningan, South Jakarta.
Anomali Coffee Jl. Senopati No. 35, South
Jakarta. Telp. 529-20102
Antipodean Hero Kemang Complex, Jl.
Kemang Selatan No. 1, South Jakarta. No
fuss super-fresh brekkies at this laid-back
Aussie-Kiwi Café.
BUNK Pullman Jakarta Central Park Podo-
moro City, Jl. Let. Jend. S. Parman Kav. 28
Telp. 021 29 20 00 88
Bloeming FX Sudirman, South Jakarta.
Telp. 2555 4182
Bakoel Koffie Jl. Cikini Raya No. 25, Central
Jakarta. Telp. 3193 6608
CJ’s Bar Hotel Mulia Senayan. Jl.Asia Afrika
Senayan, South Jakarta.Telp. 575 3275, 574
7777 ext. 4008, 4018 Bar and cocktail.
RESTAURANTS
ASIAN FUSION
Chatterbox Plaza Senayan and branches
city- wide. Singaporean and western dishes in
cozy setting. No MSG.
Mamacita The Wine Kitchen Senayan City,
LG Unit 52, South Jakarta. Telp. 7278 1477
CONTINENTAL
Cacaote Jl. Senopati Raya 80, Kebayoran
Baru, South Jakarta. Telp. 293 0612.
Place to see and be seen, melt-in-your-mouth
cakes and pastries
CHINESE
Ah Yat Abalone Mid Plaza 2, LG, Jl.
Sudirman Central Jakarta. Telp. 570 7333
Chiao Tung Hotel Rekso Hayam Wuruk, Jl.
Hayam Wuruk 2F West Jakarta. Telp. 624 8680
ITALIAN
AWkitchen Plaza Senayan
Level P4 Unit No. CP 409
Jl. Asia Afrika No. 8
Jakarta Pusat 10270
+6221 5790 6071
AWkitchen Plaza Indonesia
Level 2, No. E0206
Jl. M.H. Thamrin Kav. 28-30
Jakarta Pusat 10350
+6221 2992 4325
INDONESIAN
Beautika Jl. Hang Lekir No. 1, South Jakarta.
Telp. 722 6683
A spicy culinary journey to North Sulawesi
(Manado). No frills but you will definitely feel
hot under the collar from the chilli dosage.
Bengawan Solo Hotel Sahid Jaya, Jl. Sudirman
No. 86, Central Jakarta. Telp. 570 4444
Bumbu Hotel Sheraton Bandara, West
Jakarta. Telp. 559 7777
INTERNATIONAL
Alto Restaurant & Bar
Four Seasons Hotel Jakarta
Jl. Jend. Gatot Subroto Kav. 18
Kuningan Barat, Jakarta 12710
Opening time:
Alto Bar (Daily) 5 p.m. – 12 a.m.
Alto Restaurant (Daily) 6 p.m. – 10.30 p.m.
Tel: 021 2277 1888
Four Seasons Hotel Jakarta
WINE & DINE
Bacco Lotte Shopping Avenue, Main Lobby,
LG 38, Kuningan, South Jakarta.
Decanter Wine Lounge Plaza Kuningan,
North Tower, Ground Floor, South Jakarta.
Telp. 5296 3888
Loewy Bar & Restaurant Oakwood Premier
Cozmo, Kuningan, South Jakarta. Telp.
25542378
The Lounge Le Grandeur Mangga Dua,
Jl. Mangga Dua Raya, North Jakarta.
Telp. 612 8811
SAKE+ Jl. Senopati 54, Kebayoran Baru,
South Jakarta. Telp. 7250002. Japanese bar
& lounge.
VIN+ Arcadia Plaza Senayan Arcadia
Lantai 1 Unit 106-108, South Jakarta. Telp.
57901477
VIN+ PIM Street Gallery Pondok Indah
Mall 1st Fl Unit 106 South Jakarta. Telp.
2952 9753
VIN+ PIM soft opening specials: - Get a
glass of sangria if you follow us on twitter
and facebook. @vinplusid and VIN+ wine
and beyond
Lunch promotion.
Buy 2 main courses and get 20 percent off
(food only)
High Tea Promotion: 1 Tapas + 1 Glass of wine
only Rp 100,000 (tax included).
VIN+ Central Park Central Park Mall at
Tribeca Park Ground Floor TG. 03 Jl. Let. S.
Parman Kav. 28, West Jakarta. Telp. 5698 5768
VIN+ Kemang Jl. Kemang Raya No. 45B,
South Jakarta Telp. 7179 2577
AWkitchen
20 | ENTERTAINMENT GUIDE MONDAY April 17 , 2017

PEANUTS

CROSSWORD PUZZLER SUDOKU

Instructions:
Fill the cells in such a way so that all rows, columns and every
3-by-3 subsquare contains every digit from 1 to 9, with no rep-
etition of each digit.

ROSE IS ROSE

THE BORN LOSER

CHESSQUIZ
GARFIELD

By Shelby Lyman
FERDNAND
MONDAY April 17, 2017 IN GEAR | 21

MERCEDES-BENZ
GETS LOCAL TOUCH
Luxury car enthusiasts in Indonesia can enjoy a Mercedes-Benz
at lower than usual prices with the same comfort and extravagance
as they are now locally produced.

From generation to generation:

Ten generations of the E-class
line from Mercedes-Benz.

Quality ride: Despite being

cheaper, Mercedes-Benz still offers
ultimate comfort, a luxurious expe-
rience and security for both drivers
and passengers with its innovative
technology and installments.

Hans David Tampubolon worry not because Mercedes-Benz also sup-

THE JAKARTA POST/JAKARTA plies dedicated and highly trained product
experts who will explain all the technical fea-

M
ercedes-Benz has launched the
latest generation of its now local-
ly produced E-Class line in Indo-
nesia. The two models — E-250
AVANTGARDE and E-300 AMG — are the
first types to be manufactured in Wanaherang,
Bogor,West Java.
With the models now manufactured in In-
donesia, off-the-road prices have become
more affordable as Mercedes-Benz is no lon-
ger required to pay import tariffs.
The off-the-road price for the E-250
AVANTGARDE starts at Rp 1.12 billion
(US$84,343), while the E-300 AMG starts at
Rp 1.32 billion.
Despite being cheaper, Mercedes-Benz still
offers ultimate comfort, a luxurious experi-
ence and security for both drivers and passen-
gers with its many innovative technology ap-
plications and installments
“The E-Class is the core of the Mercedes-
Benz brand in Indonesia and in the past has
repeatedly redefined the standards in the
executive-class segment. Now it carries this
tradition into the future with a wealth of top-
class innovations,” the president director of
Mercedes-Benz Distribution in Indonesia,
Roelof Lamberts, said.
“The new E-Class takes another major step
toward intelligent driving. In addition, it en-
hances efficiency, safety and comfort, reduces
stress levels when driving and intensifies the
motoring pleasure,” he added.
Such claims are backed up by concrete evi-
dence.
The dashboards of the E-250 AVANT-
GARDE and the E-300 AMG models look like
that of a plane’s cockpit than that of a car. Hun-
dreds of buttons and several medium-sized
monitors are installed on the dashboards to
give the driver all kinds of crucial information
about the car and its surroundings.
It might be daunting at first to sit in the
driver’s seat of the new E-Class model, but
tures to those who want to test drive the luxu-
ry cars before purchasing one.
Following detailed explanations from the
product experts, it is obvious that the fea-
tures in the cars are meant to cater to the need
of users to have a stress-free and fun experi-
ence regardless of traffic conditions or driving
habits.
The panels on the dashboard, for example,
are all digitalized and drivers have all the free-
dom in the world to setup the type of infor-
mation displayed. Users can also choose from
three different visualizations — Classic, Sport
and Progressive — for the panels.
The steering wheels in the new E-Class
models feature touch-sensitive control tech-
nology. By using this, drivers can easily swipe
left or right or up or down to control the en-
tertainment system without having to let go
of the steering wheel. This is in line with the
driving adage, “hands on the wheel, eyes on
the road” to minimalize distractions.
The technological advancements on the Futuristic: The dashboards of the E-250 AVANTGARDE and the E-300 AMG models look
dashboard find a perfect complement in the more like a plane cockpit than a car.
classic materials used on the panel hatches.
The materials include aluminum trapeze cut el and 245 horse power for the AMG model For the exterior, both models remain loy-
trim for the AVANTGARDE model dashboard along with nine-speed 9G-TRONIC automatic al to Mercedes-Benz’ distinctive proportion
and open ore ash tree black wood material for transmission, the latest E-Class models pro- and design. The hoods of the cars are long and
the AMG model. vide the ultimate car-driving experience at smoothly connected with their coupe-style
The AMG line also features full authen- high speed in the city. roof before going down gracefully to their
tic seating ornaments with the utilization of To add more security, the E-Class models rears. Their exterior designs showcase a sen-
the ARTICO leather for its door interiors and also provide active brake assist that can warn sual yet elegant silhouette that perfectly sym-
beltlines. drivers of potential collisions. The system can bolizes luxury and exclusivity.
The seats in the latest E-Class models fea- automatically stop the car during emergen- “With its innovative engineering, it pro-
ture an ergonomically crafted design that pro- cies. vides a new driving experience and together
vides comfort for long drives. Another smart feature of the latest E-Class with the exclusive high-quality interior it sys-
For the driver’s seat, there is a feature in models is auto parking, which allows drivers tematically implements the high Mercedes-
which a driver can set the car to memorize to sit back and relax while the car parks prop- Benz standards. I’m sure the new E-Class will
three different setups that can be installed erly in the most complicated situations and delight our customers,” Mercedes-Benz Dis-
with a push of a button. positions using six camera sensors. tribution Indonesia deputy director for sales
With all the features to ensure a driver’s The auto parking feature, however, can operations and product management, Kari-
comfort, the latest E-Class models are much only be executed properly inside a real park- yanto Hardjosoemarto, said.
more fun to drive than to be driven in. With ing space that does not have a lot of other cars
211 horse power for the AVANTGARDE mod- driving by. — PHOTOS COURTESY OF MERCEDES-BENZ

Ride fast: The TT RS can hit 60

mph (96.5 kmh) in 3.6 seconds.
Hannah Elliott Top speed is 174 mph with an op- And the new TT RS has optional
BLOOMBERG/NEW YORK tional sport package. OLED (organic light-emitting di-
Audi has done much here to play ode) 3D rear taillights that haven’t

I
t has that unique five-cylinder
engine — and crazy new 3D tail-
lights.
Today, Audi unveiled the most
powerful TT ever, the 2018 Audi TT
RS.
The tiny coupe is a mighty effort
in badging and so-called sport pack-
aging, but the engine does pack a
up the signature five-cylinder sound
and gear-shift sequence in this new
car. It’s part of the reason why you
might buy this TT vs., say, its natu-
ral competitors such as the Jaguar
F-Type or Porsche Cayman. (The ex-
tra RS badges let everyone know it’s
the most powerful variant in the TT
line.)
been available before in a series pro-
duction car from Audi. The lights —
and a large rear-wing spoiler — help
the car seem more like a true racer
than just the little brother of the ex-
ceptional R8.
Inside, Audi has added a screen
particular to the TT RS that dis-
plays information on tire pres-

T
S
L
legitimate punch. It’s a good step As racing enthusiasts will know, sure, torque, and G-forces; the col-

O
E M
FU
forward for the model that first de- the odd configuration of the 2.5-li- ored background of the scale on

H
T
ER
buted as a bit of a soft little coupe ter engine echoes the original turbo- the screen also prompts the driv-

POW T RS
but has quickly ramped up to add se- charged five-cylinder that the Audi er to upshift as the car accelerates.
rious racing elements. Ur-Quattro used in the late 1980s. Much like the Audi R8 V10, it also
The TT RS has a unique five-cyl- Other small improvements gird has a three-spoke, flat-bottom sport

T
inder engine that gets 400 horse- the latest TT: The car is lighter than steering wheel with shift paddles

I T
power and most of its 354 pound- previous generations, with 25.8 ki- and two buttons atop it that allow

UD
feet of torque from the rear wheels, lograms saved in the engine alone for engine Start/Stop and Drive Se-

A
even though it comes with standard thanks to new aluminum compo- lect.
permanent all-wheel drive. (This, nents, and 3.63 kg shed via new The car will go to showrooms

thanks to a trademark “electrohy-
draulic” multi-plate clutch that’s po-
sitioned for ideal axle load distribu-
tion.) The TT RS can hit 96.5 kmh in
3.6 seconds — roughly a half-second
faster than a Porsche 911 Carrera 4S.
carbon-ceramic brake discs on the
front of the car. Also new this year
are Comfort, Auto, Dynamic, and
Individual drive modes integrated
directly into the seven-speed trans-
mission.
EVER
later this spring. It’ll be the option
from Audi if you want something
small, light, and affordable. Pricing
starts at US$64,900.
— PHOTOS COURTESY OF AUDI

Lighter than usual: The car is considerably lighter than previous

generations, with 25 kilograms saved in the engine alone.
22 | FEATURES MONDAY April 17, 2017

The White Veil

I
brahim woke up at 9 a.m. The
old man had been lying across
the floor, surrounded by people
groaning and wailing in pain. The
room was practically bursting with ear-
piercing cries.
He lay motionless, staring at the
dusty bluish sky up above. There were
lumps of cloud crowding the stretch of
blue sky. The air was hot and dry. Amidst
all the cacophony around him, Ibrahim
looked like someone who was lost in a
day dream. He couldn’t seem to get out
of his head.
His eyelids quivered a little and the
sun was shining bright on him. The light
brought him back into reality and the
world was full of tears coming from fel-
low refugees around him. The events
that preceded his current state flashed
before him. The ambush. The gun shots.
The mosque’s terrace. The rumbling of
trucks. The obscure night. And Meutia.
Meutia! Ibrahim jolted up and
wobbled along searching for a face
among the throng of refugees. It took
him hours to get through the crowd,
yelling his daughter’s name, his only
treasure in the world.
“Meutia, Meutia…”
No answer. She was nowhere to be
found.
Ibrahim felt his heart sink-
ing and realized everyone
around him was prob-
ably feeling the same
way after losing their
children, wives, hus-
by Anton Kurnia bands, mothers…
Anton Kurnia is an At last, Ibrahim
gave up. He sat
Indonesian short story down on the floor next didn’t seem all that clear to him. low her lips. Please find her. I hope Allah will plied to him.
writer, essayist, and dragged him- Did Meutia make it to the grand mosque bring you all the goodness for doing it.” The old man recited another string of
editor and the chief editor self away from the where some of the refugees had taken shel- One of them replied, “If your daughter is prayer for them silently. It gave him peace
of Penerbit Baca. crowd. Weary and ter? Or did she jump into the truck with the still alive, we will find her.” to do so, and it comforted his growing agony
worn out. He tried to other refugees? They went back to Lhokseumawe, taking even for a little while.
see things clearer. How These questions lingered in his mind. many girls and children to the refugee camp. One evening, there was a sudden stir in
did he end up being sepa- But he didn’t have the answers. His throat But they never found Meutia. the camp. Ibrahim saw four men carrying
rated from Meutia and her burned, as if tears were about to burst out of *** the body of a young girl.
mother? Horrifying images of him — but there were no tears left. He could The day after, they saw a girl on the street. She was found unconscious on the street
what had occurred only hours before only pray and hope that Allah the Almighty She looked terrified and tried to escape. The somewhere out of town. They took her to an
— of his wife dying with her stomach and Most Merciful would bless his daughter truck stopped and young men jumped off to emergency hospital nearby.
cut open, soaking in her own blood — with salvation and allow them both to be re- run after that girl. They stopped her. The girl Ibrahim followed them. He stood dazed
flashed through his mind. united again. was in shock and her face was pale. No doubt for a moment outside that emergency hos-
Meutia’s mother has died. There was His restless eyes were lost in thought. about it. This was Meutia, indeed: Ibrahim’s pital before deciding to enter. In one of the
no doubt about it. It’s like a blade of split He could still hear the folk song Meutia used daughter. rooms, he saw an open mattress. A body lay
bamboo had pierced right through his to sing when she was younger. Each time The fully armed young men treated her on it, motionless.
heart. His soul cried out, but he no lon- she returned home from learning how to well. They gave her food and water then took A light was turned on. There was a stiff
ger had tears to spend. Then he remem- read the Quran in a small mosque, she and her on the truck. One of them lent his jacket face with a mole beneath her lips. Her eyes
bered his wife’s last words: “Just leave her friends would spend time playing in the so she could cover her body to keep her from were closed.
me... save our daughter.” front yard, laughing and singing happy songs the cold. The girl looked ill at ease without “Meutia!” Ibrahim cried out.
They both ran as fast as possible. about bungong jeumpa or magnolia champa- a veil covering her head. The wind blew at A doctor came and stared at him.
Ibrahim and Meutia. They took nothing ca flowers under the moonlight: her hair. Nervously, she covered her thinly “I am her father,” Ibrahim explained,
but the clothes on their backs, trapped veiled breasts with both hands. stuttering.
among hundreds of other people trying Bungong jeumpa, bungong jeumpa *** The male doctor observed the motionless
to escape the horror. As they were run- megah di Aceh Days passed and Ibrahim still longed for body without saying anything. He touched
ning, Meutia’s white headscarf fell to the Bungong telebeh, telebeh indah that rupa… his beloved daughter. He kept on waiting. her wrist to check for a pulse. The girl
moist ground and Ibrahim stopped to Puteh kuneng, meujampu mirah No news, not even a single sign. Every day he opened her eyes, trying to move her body.
pick it up. Gun shots and screams were Bungong jeumpa, indah lagoina… searched through the refugee camps, hoping Her slender hands touched the lower end
not far behind them. “Father, just leave to find Meutia. In the evenings, he would get of her clothes. Very slowly she untied the knot
it,” said Meutia in a panic. *** down on his knees and pray, begging God to on her waist.
The chaotic noise echoed in Ibra- A couple of days later, Ibrahim finally deliver his daughter back to him. He prayed With an excruciating gentleness, she drew
him’s ear as if it had come from beneath saw an opportunity. Seven young men with those men had found Meutia. Their words the cloth that had covered her feet to expose
the ground he was walking on. Slowly, guns slung around their shoulders came into still echoed in his ears, “If your daughter is them. Then, without a word, she opened her
the noise dissipated, alienating him. the shelter on a truck. They told him they’d still alive, we will find her.” legs. Her eyes stared vacantly.
He felt a lump in his trousers’ pocket. evacuated girls and children to a safe place. One day, he came across these men in an- “She’s still alive! My daughter is still
He took it out. A white veil stained with Ibrahim told them Meutia’s features. other camp. They were about to jump onto alive!” Ibrahim screamed joyfully.
blood. His heart was beating fast. He rec- “She is slender and very beautiful. No, she’s their truck and leave. The doctor was turned aghast. Cold sweat
ognized the veil. Where is she? His eyes not like me, she looks more like her mother. “Young man,” he shouted to one of them, ran down his neck. In Ibrahim’s hand was
searched through the crowd once more. She’s seventeen. Big round beautiful eyes, “Did you find Meutia — my daughter?” the white veil he had been holding onto for
For some reason, what happened black hair and there is a sweet little mole be- “We will find her soon,” one of them re- so long.

We are looking for contemporary fiction between 1,500-2,000 words by established and new authors. Stories must be original and previously unpublished in English.
The email for submitting stories is: shortstory@thejakartapost.com

Essay
B
“ lack as night, sweet as sin” is
how black coffee is aptly de-
scribed in author Neil Gaiman’s
2005 novel Anansi Boys. Currently, In-
donesian specialty coffee seems to be
in high demand with more people in-
tegrating coffee shops and single origin
beans into their lives.
According to the Industry Ministry
in 2013, single origin coffee consump-
tion in Indonesia increases by 7.5 per-
cent each year.
This is a good trend, because we are
actually a great coffee producer: the
same ministry revealed that in 2013, In-
donesia ranked third on the world’s list
of biggest coffee producers after Brazil
and Vietnam, with a production capaci-
ty of approximately 748,000 tons of cof-
fee annually.
Once I went to Anomali in Setiabudi,
Jakarta and saw a blackboard outlining
the different flavors of coffee beans ac-
cording to their geographical location.
No wonder so many coffee connois-
seurs, myself included, are hooked: we
love to explore these different flavors,
which are the unique outcome of the
combination of soil type, temperature
and many other factors.
A coffee expert named Pak Hadi,
a pensioner from a prominent bank-
ing company in Indonesia, once taught
Black coffee and creative workers
A LOVE AFFAIR
me about some key flavor differences.
Based on my own experience, I discov-
ered that beans from the western part
of Indonesia, say from Aceh or Gayo,
have a stronger acidic aftertaste while
ones grown and produced in the eastern
part of the country, in places like Flores,
are sweeter.
For more information on the flavor
differences, I suggest you visit tanam-
eracoffee.com and look at their product
descriptions.
For me, as well as most of my col-
leagues who work in the creative field —
journalism or marketing communica-
tions — coffee came first as a necessity,
before it gradually became a lifestyle. So
it has never been about vanity or gaya-
gayaan.
I was not such a heavy drinker be-
fore I joined The Jakarta Post. It was
around 2015 when my workload began
to increase — requiring me to wake up
early, write and translate many texts
and come home a little late. I observed
my former editor, who seemed to get a
big boost from black coffee — he drank
eight cups a day and worked from 8 a.m.
to midnight everyday — to help him
produce so many great stories with in-
teresting headlines.
Coffee is an acquired taste;
at first I felt like I had swal-
BY SEBASTIAN PARTOGI
lowed a cup full of antibiotics. Soon I
learned to appreciate the rich flavor
subtleties. I could spend 30 minutes
just drinking a single cup in order to re-
ally take delight in the tantalizing taste
of its warm body.
Soon I followed in my former editor’s
footsteps and have now become a heavy
drinker myself: five cups a day during
hectic days. I love the boost it gives me,
along with the reporting, translation
and writing assignments I work on.
There is no drug I have ever taken
that could compete with the endor-
phin rush of getting a story done, or just
making a good-quality translation. I en-
joy being hyperactive and suffer from
“withdrawal symptoms” during slow
days when heavy deadlines have al-
ready been met.
My friends in the media seem to en-
joy the hectic work as well. What is more
satisfying than starting something from
scratch, doing the interviews and field
reports, typing those reports on Micro-
soft Word, sending it to the editor to be
edited, then for layout and finally seeing
the product, a newspaper or a supple-
ment magazine, that we can physically
hold in our hands?
I once asked a senior writer, Seno
Gumira Ajidarma, who is known for his
tremendous productivity, whether he
gets tired sometimes of engaging end-
lessly in reading, thinking and writing.
He told me the question was as use-
less as asking a farmer whether he got
tired from cultivating the land. For him,
thinking and writing have become as
natural as breathing; he sees writing as
going beyond profession.
Unfortunately though, some peo-
ple seem to get into journalism
or creative writing for these extra-
neous ornaments. Writer Ayu Utami
once said during a forum in Jurnal
Perempuan that nowadays, people like
to write more than they read, because
they want to gain attention from their
writing.
I also saw how some people have
gone into journalism and the literary
world thinking these fields will make
them famous. It’s great to want to be-
come famous but you have to do the
hard work as well.
As Seno, or my hardcore col-
leagues, can attest to: it takes a hell of
a lot of hard work in order to produce
good writing. You need to read vora-
ciously and spend hours upon hours
refining your skills, even if that means
sacrificing your sleeping hours or per-
sonal life.
If you are somebody who burns to be
a creative writer and intellectual, you
will naturally do that without anyone
pointing a gun at your head.
Dedication and hard work determine
who will stand the test of time. My two
friends have become successful. Now-
adays, the works of these classmates,
who supposedly want to be great writ-
ers, are unheard of.
While my two friends continue to
work hard and push their skills to the
limit; the sky is their limit. For me and
my colleagues also, we continue to
be “wicked,” jumping from one chal-
lenge to another, widening our scope of
knowledge by continuously exploring
new fields. But I digress.
To get back to the subject, thank
goodness for Indonesian specialty cof-
fee, whose wonderful taste fuels our
reckless activities as we go along.
MONDAY April 17, 2017 FEATURES | 23
BOOK REVIEWS

Empowerment THE WIDOW OF

WALL STREET
through BY RANDY SUSAN MEYERS

the arts H
ow could she? How
could the wife of a
Wall Street swindler, a
Bernie Madoff type, not walk
out the door at first word that
her husband has cheated their
family, friends and hundreds of
others out of their life savings?
How could she defend him to
her own children, who lost it all
with dad?
And, come to think of it, how
Artful expression: Children could she have not known this
paint murals on a wall in crime was being committed in
Dadapsari village. front of her on a daily basis, as
she collected beautiful homes,
boats and cars, and accoutre-
ments of artwork, fine crystal
and a designer wardrobe?
Those questions seem like
no-brainers, and in The Widow about his business dealings,
Collaborative of Wall Street, author Randy no questions about the hours
artwork: Teenag- Susan Meyers poses them right he started to spend away from
ers color a cloth at the start. Yet as this compel- home — and the office — and
painting. ling story unfolds, you realize certainly no questions about
nothing is as uncomplicated how they so quickly moved up
as it seems, especially when the economic ladder from their
you’ve been married almost 50 Brooklyn, New York, roots to
In Rumah Baca Teratai (Teratai reading house), years and you take so serious- the Greenwich, Connecticut,
children and teenagers are empowered. ly your marital vows because charity-gala circuit.
you felt both gratitude and debt And, even when she might
when you uttered those words. have paused to have one of
Phoebe Pierce — frail, pe- those passing thoughts, she
tite and pretty Phoebe — went convinced herself that her
A. Kurniawan Ulung through most of her adult life commitment to being good, do-
CONTRIBUTOR/SURAKARTA, CENTRAL JAVA with blinders on, not because ing good and spreading good
she wasn’t smart or capable to made up for the corners that

I
n Surakarta, Central Java, the loca-
tion of Rumah Baca Teratai is strate-
gic as it is close to City Hall and two
big traditional markets — Klewer and
Gedhe.
The building is eye-catching with the
walls and floor painted with murals. In-
teresting murals can be found not only
on the walls of the reading house, but also
on other walls within the complex of the
Dadapsari village in the Sangkrah subdis-
trict. Teaming up with community Tugitu
Unite, people in the village made the art-
work in September 2015 to get children’s
attention.
The manager, artist Danny Setyawan,
said children visited in the afternoon to
play or read books.
take Jake to task, but because she eventually began to suspect
she felt she owed him for a Jake was cutting.
mistake she made during their But as the Pierces’ problems
courtship that he never knew snowball out of control, Phoe-
about. be never plays the victim, and
Of course, her daily life wasn’t it is her willingness to take re-
too shabby, and for many years sponsibility for Jake’s deplor-
she lived by the mantra that ig- able actions that makes her a
norance is bliss. No questions heroine in the end. — AP
In the making:
A teen paints a
wall mural.
THE BURIAL HOUR
BY JEFFERY DEAVER
To teach theater, for example, Danny has Danny
invited students from the Indonesian Arts Setyawan
Institute (ISI) Surakarta.

“For me, forbidding children from tech-
nological gadgets is impossible because
that is in the hands’ of their parents. The
only thing I can do is help them temporar-
ily ignore their gadgets to play outdoors
here,” he said.
Founded on Jan. 17, 2014, Rumah Baca
Teratai aims to encourage children to be
passionate about reading and to help re-
duce negative stigmas about the Sangkrah
sub-district.
In Surakarta, densely-populated Sang-
krah is notorious for criminal records,
ranging from gambling, juvenile delin-
quency, illicit drug use to terrorism.
Bahrun Naim, the country’s most-
wanted terrorist, grew up in the village.
After he orchestrated the terror attack
on Jl. MH Thamrin in Jakarta in January
2016, Sangkrah became popular as a terror-
ist hotbed.
“The man who planned to bomb the Pal-
ace is also from Sangkrah,” Danny said of
one of the terrorist suspects related to the
frying pan bomb in December last year.
Living amid negative stereotypes is not
easy. Innocent people become victims, as
they cannot get jobs after informing people
that they are from Sangkrah.
Danny says that he wants people to know
that Sangkrah has Rumah Baca Teratai
where young people come to play and de-
velop their potential.
“This is a place to find identity. Here,
they can discover and develop their charac-
ter, interests and talents,” he said.
Therefore, Danny, helped by many, such
as university students, artists, community
members and practitioners, creates art, so-
cial and cultural activities in Rumah Baca
Teratai to attract children and teenagers.
“Theater is important to boost their con-
fidence as they have to perform in front of
audience,” he said.
ISI students also teach children to play
the gamelan as a way to preserve tradition-
al Javanese karawitan (music ensembles).
In collaboration with community Orang
Muda Katolik (Catholic Youth Organiza-
tion), Rumah Baca Teratai also has story-
telling workshops for children to introduce
them to the values of tolerance.
“We teach manners. When children talk
with parents and elders, they know that
they have to speak politely,” he said.
Danny understands that people love mu-
sic. So, in Sangkrah, children are trained to
play percussions by using second-hand ob-
jects, such as used cans and jerry cans.
For teenagers, Danny’s goal is not only
to shape their characters. He wants them
to be financially responsive as this could
dissuade them from being influenced to do
bad things.
In Rumah Baca Teratai, teenagers get
hands-on training in sablon (silk-screen-
ing), airbrushing and web designing, with
the help of Danny’s friends as their instruc-
tors.
“Learning about airbrushing and silk-
screen printing techniques is of great inter-
est to the students. I just help facilitate the
training,” he said.
“To learn about silk-screen printing, for
example, I send them to Banyuwangi, East
Java. After they return to Surakarta, I ask
them to intern with three silk-screen art-
ists for one year,” he said.
One of Danny’s protégés now has his own
business.
“He has been working on orders from
distros [distribution outlets]. For one dis-
tro, he handles 8 to 10 designs.
For one design, there are at least 40 piec-
es of clothing,” Danny said of his protégé,
who is now a silk-screen coach at Rumah
Baca Teratai.
Rumah Baca Teratai also provides batik-
making training for people in Sangkrah.
Rumah Baca Teratai had over 2,000
books donated. Since March 2015, it has
been equipped with computers and WiFi,
thanks to a telecommunication company’s
corporate social responsibility (CSR).
Danny hopes that with the technological
devices, the reading house can be the first
cyber village in Surakarta.
“Rumah Baca Teratai is a pilot project.
This year, we will duplicate it in other vil-
lages. The concept will stay the same. For
children, we focus on character develop-
ment. For teenagers, we give them real life
skills,” he said.
— PHOTOS BY A. KURNIAWAN ULUNG
T
he latest in Jeffery
Deaver’s series featur-
ing forensic detective
Lincoln Rhyme and his part-
ner, Amelia Sachs, throws
them both literally into foreign
territory.
A 9-year-old girl witnesses a
man abducted on the streets of
New York, and the kidnapper
leaves a miniature hangman’s
noose at the scene. Rhyme and
Sachs are called in to investi-
gate and they soon learn of a
video recording of the victim
slowly being hanged by a man
in the shadows while eerie mu-
sic plays. He calls himself “The
Composer,” and with some
quick thinking and deduction,
they’re able to find and rescue tor. Putting Rhyme and Sachs
the victim before he dies. Un- in unknown territory show-
fortunately, The Composer es- cases a different side of their
capes. characters. Making them jump
When an abduction occurs through hoops to keep interna-
in Italy under similar circum- tional peace gives the story an
stances, Rhyme and Sachs fly to extra edge.
Europe to assist in the capture The usual aspect of terror
of this elusive villain. Working and the ticking-clock plot de-
with local authorities, they try vice that Deaver is known for
to not only stop The Composer, seems not to be as prominent in
but also uncover a motive. Will The Burial Hour as in previous
they be able to figure it out in novels, but that doesn’t mean
time to save The Composer’s the story line isn’t suspense-
latest conquest? ful. Perhaps it’s the focus on so
Deaver is a master of plot many new characters when the
twists, and they are abundant reader primarily wants to read
in this story that keeps the about Rhyme and Sachs. Even
reader guessing about who can with that in mind, this is still
be trusted and what’s behind essential for fans of the fran-
the motivations of the abduc- chise. — AP

GUESS WHAT?
Bollywood star Sobti lacks Hamill finds Fisher’s Affleck and Garner
interest in social media ‘Star Wars’ tribute ‘therapy’ file for divorce
JAKARTA: Bollywood actor Barun Sobti is not that into social media, ORLANDO: Mark Hamill says he’s still grieving over Carrie LOS ANGELES: Actors Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner officially filed for
having no Instagram account and only tweeting 64 times since he Fisher’s death, but sharing memories of his late friend and divorce nearly two years after the Hollywood A-list couple split, the Los
joined Twitter in 2014. co-star with fans at StaStar Wars Celebration is “part Angeles Times reported.
“I’m not
n really into social media of the process that I need to move on.” Irreconcilable differences were cited in the paperwork filed in Los
d
and I don’t even have an Instagram Hamill led an ho hour-long tribute to Fisher Angeles Superior Court, where Garner filed the
acco
account,” the star of Kushi televi- on Friday evening at the event in Orlando, etition and Affleck filed his
divorce petition
sio
sion series was quoted as saying tryin to use you as therapy
Florida. “I’m trying response,, the newspaper reported late
by kompas.com during a meet- to get through this
th together,” the actor on Thursday.
day.
and-greet in Tangerang, Banten
an said. He called Fish
Fisher “my beloved space Garnerr and Affleck, both 44,
on Friday. the were also great friends
twin” and said they ng joint custody of
are seeking
H
His co-star, actress Dalljie off-screen. e children.
their three
Kaur, wwho also at the event, said They even shared
sha a steamy make-out Affleckk and Garner co-
Sobti did
di not like posting photos or once, he said. “As attracted as
session onc starred in the 2003 super-
revealing his personal activities on I was to t her, I thought I couldn’t hero film Daredevil and
social media.
me handle
hand her as a girlfriend. She’s were married
rried in 2005.
“All
“ I can say about him is too much,” Hamill said. “Part They announced
ounced plans to
that he is very critical and of me did fall in love with divorce a day after their
a very happy person,” she her. I think every guy. She
he th
10 weddingding
says. hhad you under her spell.” anniversary
ary
The two, who arrived in Hamill also introduced in 2015. —
Indonesia on Thursday, will vvideo clips of George Lucas Reuters
also appear in made-for-TV aand The Last Jedi director
film Calon Istriku Puteri dari RRian Johnson in which they
India (My Future Bride is sshare anecdotes about
an Indian Princess), having working with Fisher.
filmed their parts on Satur- “Wait until you see her
day. — JP in The Last Jedi, “ Hamill
added.”You’re going to
love her.” — AP
lo AP
tribunnews.com Reuters
g
FEATURES MONDAY April 17, 2017 | 24

lory days of
batik Betawi
revisited
A newly launched book examines
an important yet almost forgotten chapter
in the story of Indonesia’s batik traditions.

Sebastian Partogi
THE JAKARTA POST/JAKARTA

T
he motifs of batik Betawi are often associated onlyy
with Jakarta’s iconic National Monument (Monas) orr
ondel-ondel effigies, failing to expose its rich story in
n JP/Arief Suhardiman
the process.
Batik collector Hartono Sumarsono believes batik Betawi wi
from Jakarta had rich cultural and sociological significancee
during its glory days from the 1930s to the 1970s. This signifi-
cance, unfortunately, might now have been forgotten.
Currently, batik pesisir from the coastal areas of Java or batik k
JP/Arief Suhardiman

Solo (or Surakarta) from Central Java are much more popularr
among batik lovers.
A book titled Batik Betawi Koleksi Hartono Sumarsonoo
(Batik Betawi from Hartono Sumarsono’s collection) aimss
to change that.
The book was co-authored with former Intisari month--
ly magazine chief editor Helen Ishwara as well as the maga--
zine’s two reporters: LR Supriyapto Yahya and Xenia Moeiss
with photographs from veteran Kompas daily photographer Ar--
bain Rambey.
The book chronicles the glory days of batik Betawi, which h
was made in Jakarta from the 1930s to 1990 in production n Courtesy of Batik Betawi: Koleksi Hartono Sumarsono/kitlv.com
centers owned by Chinese-Indonesian merchants located d Trace of history: Women work at Tee Boen Kee’s batik center in
in Karet, South Jakarta, as well as in Palmerah, Palmerah area, or in a place called in Eng Soen alley (Jl. Palmerah
West Jakarta. Utara II), in this 1930s photo.
The centers produced
roduced commercial stamp-
made batik cap instead
nstead of the handmade va-
riety to meet the fast-growing demand com-
ing from not only Java but also Sumatra and search for this book, we went to some hous- ulate the city in the 16th century, played a constituted a large chunk of the batik pro-
Kalimantan. es in Karet whwhere family members of these significant role in setting up these centers. duction centers’ workforce.
“Nowadays, most ost of the parts of Karet batik craftspeople
craftspeo live to find out the origins One of them was Lie Tiang Tjeng (1887 to The craftspeople’s personal lives and cul-
that previously servederved as production cen- behind each motif and production
and story behi 1961), who came to Jakarta in 1906. Around ture also inspired the motifs of their batik.
ters for batik Betawi etawi have already been Hartono’s personal assistant Dance
center,” Harto seven years after settling in Jakarta, he had “For instance, they make cauliflower mo-
turned into residential
ential areas and business Jakarta Post.
told The Jakar already built a large batik factory in the tifs; as we know cauliflowers are important
centers. I’m afraid d that in the next many stories about the origins of
He said man Karet area. ingredient of cap cay [stir-fried vegetables],”
20 years, the nextt generation batik Betawi motifs had been cir-
the classic bat “This man is significant because the Hartono said, referring to a popular Chinese
will know nothing ng about culated and th they wanted to cross-check the wealth he accumulated from selling batik food. Lotuses are also prominently featured
batik Betawi,” Hartono stories with ththe family members. turned him into a landlord,” Hartono said. in these Chinese batik makers’ work.
said. family members they visited, un-
Some famil Another prominent figure was Tee Boen Inspiration also came out of the blue
The 63-year-old d has fortunately, n no longer clearly remembered Kee, a batik craftsman in the 1930s who for these workers. For instance, they saw
been collecting batik the classic babatik Betawi tradition between owned a workshop in what is now called the a becak (pedicab) passing by and, lo and
since 1983. He runs uns the 1930s and 1970s. Eng Soen alleyway in Jl. Palmerah Utara, behold: a becak driver motif was created.
his own batik store ore The book o opens with a socio-historical West Jakarta. They also came up with an elephant motif,
called Kencana na portrait of JJakarta in the era of Portuguese Hartono said the batik Betawi of the 1930 which became so popular that it was export-
Ungu in Tanah h occupation in the 15th century and contin- to 1970 period had no specific distinguish- ed to Singapore.
Abang, Central ues to the Dutch occupation period be- ing characteristics as it was made primarily The glory days of batik Betawi, however,
Jakarta. Since fore moving
mov forward to the early days by imitating motifs and patterns that hap- ended in 1990 when the production cen-
2010, he has also of Indonesian
Indon independence. This pro- pened to be in vogue across Java at a given ters had to relocate to Cikarang, West Java,
been producing vides readers
read with the cultural influenc- time. and other areas due to concerns about in-
fabric called Ba- es that have
ha shaped the capital city. “For instance, in the 1950 to 1960 period, dustrial waste. Since then, it has increas-
tik Citra Lawas. It also discusses
d the ethnic diversity the merak ati motif featuring the gurdo [an ingly lost the wild popularity that it enjoyed
His personall that has been
bee present in the melting pot eagle-like shape] was very popular, particu- during its heyday.
collection, howev- v- of Jakarta since
si the 17th century, with Chi- larly in Tasikmalaya, West Java, so they fo-
er, is not for sale. nese, Muslim Indians and Arabs moving cused on [producing] that. The same went Batik Betawi: Koleksi Hartono Sumarsono
“In conducting ng re- from their home
ho countries, not to mention for the merak ngibing motif that was popu- by Hartono Sumarsono, Helen Ishwara,
Indonesians from various ethnicities such lar in the same period,” Hartono said.
L.R.Surpriyapto Yahya, Xenia Moeis
as the Balinese
Balines and Ambonese. Many schol- Chinese-Indonesian craftspeople also
ars believe the Betawi people of Jakarta are played a significant part in batik-making, Published by Kepustakaan Populer
Hartono Sumarsono actually the result
re of inter-ethnic marriages learning the craft directly from local craft- Gramedia, 2017
among these groups.
g speople living in Sudirman, South Jakarta 243 pages
Chinese merchants,
me who started to pop- and Bendungan Hilir, Central Jakarta. They

BOOK WORM
JP/Arief Suhardiman

JJEFFREY SALIMIN
LOVES VISUALLY Marvel Comics
by Stan Lee

RICH BOOKS I am a visual guy. So, I see words as pic-

tures and vice versa. I am a little bit odd,
you can say. I cannot read books with a
lot of words in it because I get easily dis-
tracted. What I read most of all when I was
Hans David Ta
Tampubolon the mid-1800 young were comic books. My first books
THE JAKARTA POST/JAKARTA Suriname, for him, always has a were the Spider-Man, X-Men and other
special place in his heart because he Marvel superhero comic books.

F
il
ilmmaker Jeffrey spent his first 10 years of living there.
Salimin
S recent- “I am a second generation of
ly completed and Javanese-Suriname. My father was
screened
screen his first big the first and he was born in Suriname.
project, a documentary
projec I was also born there but when I was
titled Jaji (Compan- 10 years old, my family moved to the
ion). Netherlands and I have been living
“I have made a there for 25 years,” he said.
num
number of short In the documentary, Jeffrey
mo
movies before and and his crew followed a number of
thi
this documenta- Javanese-Surinamese people as they
ry is the biggest go through their daily lives.
pr
project that I have Unlike other documentary film-
ever done,” Jeffrey
ev makers, Jeffrey did not read any
told The Jakarta
tol book for research before filming.
Post during a recent
Pos “I did not want to make a histori-
screening of Jaji at the
scree cal movie. That’s why I did not read
Erasmu
Erasmus Huis in Kunin- books on the history of Javanese-
gan, South Jaka
Jakarta. Suriname and I talked to people a lot
The docum
documentary is a spe- about how the Javanese-Suriname
cial project for Jeffrey, a Dutch live nowadays,” he said. 100 Photographs: The Most Influential Images of All Time
with a Java Javanese-Surinamese Reading books, Jeffrey admit- by Time Magazine
descent backg
background, because it ted, was not really his thing because
chronicles the current present he said that he found it hard to fully I collect a lot of books about photography, especially those from famous photog-
day situation of Javanese liv- focus on a book if it had too many raphers. I studied them and that was why I became interested into photography
Suriname after the first
ing in Surinam words. However, he loved to col- and later on, into making movies.
immigration from the is-
wave of immig lect books with less words and more There are a lot of photography books that inspire me. If I see the photos distract
land of Java to Suriname back in visuals. me, then I am going to pick it up and study it. I must say that Time Magazine and its
photos have always interested me especially on human interest issues.
The photograhy from Time is the kind of photos that I enjoy. They are journalism
JP/Hans David Tamp
Tampubolon photography, which can tell the whole story in just one picture.