Kalimantan no longer a sleeping giant: Yudhoyono
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono inaugurated eight mega projects in resource-rich East Kalimantan on Wednesday as part of the Master Plan for the Acceleration and Expansion of Indonesia's Economic Development (MP3EI).
"Don't underestimate the huge island of Kalimantan only as a sleeping giant any longer. Alhamdulillah [God willing], it is no longer so," the President said to an audience that included Coordinating Economic Minister Hatta Rajasa, East Kalimantan Governor Awang Faroek Ishak and Balikpapan Mayor Rizal Effendi, among others.
Two of the projects have already been completed: Kariangau Port in Balikpapan and Kalimarau Airport in Berau regency in the north part of the province.
Still under construction are an expansion project for Sepinggan Airport in Balikpapan; Pertamina's Lawe-Lawe Centralized Crude Terminal (CCT) in North Penajam Paser regency; twin bridges in Samarinda, East Kalimantan; an industrial estate and an international port in East Kutai regency; the development of PT Pupuk Kalimantan Timur's Kaltim-5 urea fertilizer plant in Bontang regency, and a new airport for Samarinda.
Yudhoyono said that the eight projects had a combined price tag of Rp 19 trillion (S$2.4 billion).
The projects were implemented under the central government's MP3EI blueprint that calls for infrastructure development to improve connectivity throughout the archipelago. Development is slated to take place along six economic corridors throughout the nation: Sumatra, Kalimantan, Java, Sulawesi, Bali and Nusa Tenggara and Papua-Maluku.
Kalimantan no longer a sleeping giant: Yudhoyono
Let there be no mistake Indonesia, with its policies, land, people and resources, will be the anchor for ASEAN's economy and every nation from within this group will be benefit if proper working relationships can be attained.
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Philippines hails new cardinal
MANILA - Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Socrates Villegas said he and other Filipino prelates-Archbishop Jose Palma and Archbishop Romulo Valles-waited outside the Vatican synod hall after hearing the news that Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Tagle had been named cardinal.
"When I hugged him, he cried on my shoulders. Tears of joy but also tears of fear! Every grace is also a responsibility, he told me later. We pray with joy now. Let us pray for Cardinal Tagle on the months and years ahead. Rejoice dear Philippines! One of our sons is now a cardinal!" Villegas said in a statement released in Manila.
Clerics and lay leaders echoed the same joy and fear that Villegas expressed following the surprise announcement by Pope Benedict XVI that the 55-year-old Tagle would be elevated to cardinal at the consistory on Nov. 24 in the Vatican.
Tagle is scheduled to return to Manila on Nov. 1. He will celebrate Mass on Nov. 3 in Paco, Manila, to launch the "Year of Faith" in his archdiocese.
"We are like John the Baptist crying out in the wilderness," said Tagle in an interview with Vatican Radio yesterday, a day after Benedict's announcement that he had joined the ranks of cardinals.
"You're not even sure if people will give you a fair hearing," said Tagle, who has been described as a "golden child," a rising "star," and a potential papal contender.
"You may be saying the right things but people will not listen to you if the manner by which you communicate reminds them of a triumphalistic know-it-all type of institution," said Tagle, who became head of the Manila archdiocese upon the retirement a year ago of Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales.
"I would like to thank the Holy Father for his trust and confidence not only in me but in the Church in Manila and in the Philippines. I take this not only as a gift but also as a call for the Church in the Philippines to take seriously our mission specially in Asia," he said.
"I am also consoled by the assurances of prayer and support from so many people. But I am terrified by the magnitude of the task at hand," Tagle said in his official statement issued from Rome, where he is attending the monthly synod of bishops on new evangelization.
"It requires a further broadening of the horizon, a careful study of worldwide developments in society and the Church and an intensification of the mission of the Archdiocese of Manila and the Church in the Philippines, even in different parts of the world, especially in Asia."
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Philippines hails new cardinal
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Researcher unravels Angkor mystery
JAPAN - In his new book, Yoshiaki Ishizawa, former president of Sophia University, has answered the longstanding question of how Angkor Wat, a huge complex of stone temples in northwestern Cambodia, was first established.
Ishizawa, who has studied and worked to preserve the World Heritage Site of Angkor monuments for more than 50 years, recently published "Challenging the Mystery of the Angkor Empire: Realizing the Mission of Sophia University in the Asian World."
The Angkor civilization is known to have flourished for about 800 years from the early ninth century, but how it was established is still a mystery. Ishizawa, 75, found that temples and roads related to the Angkor Empire had spread over the Indochinese Peninsula by
reading inscriptions written in Sanskrit and old Khmer, which were discovered in the Angkor monuments. He concluded this huge network of trade and logistics must have supported and nurtured the once-great civilization.
Meanwhile, Ishizawa has fostered Cambodian experts in the preservation of the Angkor monuments since 1980, when he was asked to help with the restoration work by a Cambodian researcher. Most of the original Cambodian researchers were killed during the years of the Pol Pot regime.
His philosophy is that "the preservation and restoration of the site should be carried out by Cambodians, for Cambodians." The university established its Asia Center for Research and Human Development in 2002; six Cambodians had received doctorate degrees and 13 have received master's degrees from the university as of March 2009.
In 2001, the university's investigation mission, including Cambodian trainees, successfully excavated 274 discarded Buddhist statues at the Banteay Kdei temple about 30 kilometers from Angkor Wat. According to Ishizawa, the discovery rewrote the history of the final days of the Angkor empire.
French researchers long maintained the empire perished due to fatigue from continuous constructions of temples.
According to Ishizawa,
the empire's throne was traditionally seized by force, not inherited through bloodline succession, as is the case of the Japanese Imperial family. Ishizawa explained the discarded statues were evidence of political conflicts in which a king displayed his new power, and that the empire continued to flourish until its fall.
"The discovery gave great confidence to the Cambodian trainees. They have overturned the negative image of the Pol Pot regime through the preservation and restoration of famous historical sites," Ishizawa said.
Ishizawa, who visits Cambodia five or six times a year, said he intends to keep helping develop that country's human resources as much as possible.
Researcher unravels Angkor mystery
