Indonesia Economy Forum

[pr1v4t33r]

Indonesia dominates China Open with two victories

Indonesia gave a solid performance as two of its pairs took home titles at the China Open Super Series Premier badminton tournament in Fuzhou on Sunday.

Nailed it: Indonesian men’s doubles pair Marcus Fernaldi Gideon and Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo celebrate after winning 2016 China Open Super Series Premier badminton tournament title in Fuzhou, China, on Sunday. Marcus and Kevin outclassed Mathia Boe and Carsten Mogensen of Denmark 21-18, 22-20 to win the title. (Courtesy of PBSI/File)

World number seven Marcus Fernaldi Gideon and Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo of Indonesia outwitted third-ranked Mathias Boe and Carsten Mogensen of Denmark 21-18, 22-20 in men’s doubles at the Haixia Olympic Sports Center.

Meanwhile, compatriots Tontowi Ahmad and Liliyana Natsir, the Rio Olympics gold medalist pair, outclassed world number 142 Zhang Nan and Li Yinhui 21-13, 22-24, 21-16 in the one hour and 14-minute showdown to secure the mixed doubles title.

The 2016 China Open title was the first super series premier title for young guns Marcus and Kevin this year.

“It feels wonderful to win [the super series premier tournament],” said 25-year-old Marcus.

“[The China Open] is our fourth title this year, after also winning the India Open Super Series and Australian Open Super Series, as well as two grand prix tournaments,” added Marcus, who felt overwhelmed with this year’s achievements following last year’s grand prix win.

Kevin said focusing on enjoying the game, instead of worrying about the result, was the key to the pair’s victory.

“It is important to do your best and enjoy the play. Overthinking would just bring us down because it would cause us to expect too much,” added the 21-year-old.

Hungry for more wins, Kevin said he and his partner were aiming for more titles in the future. “Step by step, we’ve collected titles. There are a lot more to come.”

For Marcus and Kevin, winning the title by beating Boe and Mogensen was sweet revenge as the Indonesians were beaten by the Danes in a rubber match at the 2015 Malaysia Open.

Meanwhile, for world number seven pair Tontowi and Liliyana, the 2016 China Open title was their second super series win this year and their first victory after August’s Rio Games.

In other courts, host shuttlers experienced humiliating losses against visitors.

Ranked sixth in the world, Jan O. Jorgensen of Denmark upset host world number two Chen Long in men’s singles. Jorgensen won 22-30, 21-13 for only his second victory over second-ranked Chen in 10 attempts, and his first since the 2014 Indonesian Open.

The Dane edged a nip-and-tuck first game, but after he hit the front at 4-3 in the second, he gunned to the title in just 46 minutes, reported AFP.

In women’s singles, Pusarla V. Shindhu of India, world number 11, knocked out world number nine Sun Yu 21-11, 17-21, 21-11 to earn the title.

Sixth seed Chang Ye-na and Lee So-hee of South Korea beat China’s Huang Dongping and Li Yinhui for the women’s doubles title.

http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/11/21/indonesia-dominates-china-open-with-two-victories.html

 

[skyhigh88]

Indonesia Proposes ASEAN-Pacific Alliance Cooperation
SUNDAY, 20 NOVEMBER, 2016 | 15:28 WIB
Tempo.co

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Indonesia proposed a cooperation between ASEAN and Pacific Allience as an alternative to Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) which was pioneered by a number of countries in Asia and Pacific.

"If TTP does not pan out, why don’t we initiate a cooperation between ASEAN dan Pacific Alliance? That is better than TPP," Vice President Jusuf Kalla said while attending APEC trade summit in Lima, Peru on Saturday (20/11 in Indonesian time).

Members of Pacific Alliance are Mexico, Peru, Chile, and Colombia. Out of the four countries, Colombia is the only country that is not a member of APEC. Meanwhile, Indonesia is not included as a member of TPP initiated by a number of Asia and Pacific countries.

In addition, TPP, established in 2013, begins to question the membership of The United States due to the new president, Donald Trump. However, Kalla stated that most countries believe that The United States will not change.

In the summit, Kalla had the opportunity to participate in the plenary of APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC). Prior to the plenary, Indonesia along with China, New Zealand, and Brunei was entrusted to formulate empowerment programs for micro, small, and medium enterprises. In the forum, Indonesia also proposed product development trade, such as palm, rattan, coffee, and rubber to be equally treated as other products which are free from customs charges.

M IRFAN ILMIE | ANTARA

http://en.tempo.co/read/news/2016/11/20/055821671/Indonesia-Proposes-ASEAN-Pacific-Alliance-Cooperation

 

[pr1v4t33r]

Indonesia proposed a cooperation between ASEAN and Pacific Allience as an alternative to Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) which was pioneered by a number of countries in Asia and Pacific. "If TTP does not pan out, why don’t we initiate a cooperation between ASEAN dan Pacific Alliance? That is better than TPP," Vice President Jusuf Kalla said while attending APEC trade summit in Lima, Peru on Saturday (20/11 in Indonesian time). Members of Pacific Alliance are Mexico, Peru, Chile, and Colombia. Out of the four countries, Colombia is the only

The real meat in TPP is US and Europe market. Without them there will be no feast.

 

[pr1v4t33r]

Update on the revitalization of PLBN Motaain (Indonesia - Timor Leste) border-crossing station

Before

 

[pr1v4t33r]

Apple to build research center in Indonesia next year

JAKARTA, Nov. 24 (Xinhua) -- U.S. based technology firm, Apple Inc. will kick off construction of a research and development center in Indonesia next year, a minister disclosed here on Thursday.

That will be Apple's second research facility located outside the United States after it built the first one in Brazil, Indonesian Information Minister Rudiantara said.

The company will build the project in the country's capital of Jakarta and has mulled over several locations in the capital city, Rudiantara said.

"At the end of December, the company will decide the location of the project. So, next year, it will start constructing building and recruiting staffs," Rudiantara said.

The minister said that the firm had pledged its commitment to investing in Indonesia.

The minister expected the company to expand its project and investment to others places in the country.

Indonesia, an archipelago country, is one of the world's largest markets for mobile phones and other products of information technology.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2016-11/24/c_135856217.htm

 

[katarabhumi]

Google, Indonesia Near Tax Deal for $73 Million or Less

WSJ - 24/11/2016

JAKARTA— Alphabet Inc.’s Google unit is nearing a settlement with Indonesian tax authorities for no more than $73 million, far less than Indonesia initially sought, a senior tax official said.

“Consider this tax amnesty for Google,” Muhammad Haniv, head of the tax office’s special-cases unit, said in an interview Wednesday.

If a settlement is reached, Google won’t be fined, he said, and will likely owe no more than 1 trillion rupiah in back taxes. In September the agency said Google owed up to five trillion rupiah in 2015 taxes and fines, a figure based on data from other government agencies about digital-ad revenue for the Indonesian market.

Google declined to comment but in the past has said it had paid all applicable taxes and was cooperating with the government.

President Joko Widodo’s government, looking to increase tax collection to fund his infrastructure program, has targeted multinational companies. In April, the tax agency said it would investigate foreign internet companies, alleging they had been underpaying for years.

In Google’s case, tax officials said the company treated its Indonesian unit as merely a promotional event organizer under the supervision of Google Asia Pacific, its regional headquarters in Singapore, which handles all contracts from Indonesian advertisers. Indonesian authorities assert that Google Asia Pacific pays the Indonesia unit’s expenses and adds 8% that is booked as the unit’s profit. Google has declined to comment.

Google and Facebook collected 70% of Indonesia’s total digital advertising revenue last year of $830 million, Indonesian tax officials say. Neither company has commented on the figures. In a joint research report this year with Singapore’s state investment firm Temasek, Google put Indonesia’s total digital-ad market in 2015 at $300 million.

While Indonesia is targeting multinationals on taxes, it is simultaneously wooing foreign investment by deregulating many sectors.

A tax amnesty rolled out earlier this year has brought in billions of dollars. And the government has said that it is considering cutting the corporate tax rate, currently 25%, to as low as 17%, matching neighboring Singapore. Indonesia’s economy is the largest in Southeast Asia, but Singapore is the popular regional hub for multinationals.

Google and the tax agency have been meeting since the September announcement. Google requested but didn’t get a meeting with Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati, people familiar with the matter said.

Google in January struck a tax deal with the U.K., agreeing to pay £130 million ($185 million) in back taxes and interest covering the years 2005 to 2015.

The company is in a nontax dispute with the European Union, whose antitrust regulator hit it with formal charges in July, pressing it to change the way it operates in areas including advertising and shopping. The company has defended its practices. The EU has also alleged that Google abuses its dominance with its mobile operating service Android, which the company has denied.

Write to Resty Woro Yuniar at restyworo.yuniar@wsj.com

http://www.wsj.com/articles/google-indonesia-close-to-tax-deal-for-73-million-or-less-1479974980

 

[Nike]

China highly dependent on Indonesian CPO
Kamis, 24 November 2016 23:12 WIB | 1.982 Views

Photo illustration of farmers cultivate oil palm fruit. (ANTARA/Syifa Yulinnas)

Kuala Pembuang, Central Kalimantan (ANTARA News) - China is highly dependent on Indonesian crude palm oil (CPO) to meet its need for the commodity, an executive has said.

"Indonesia is very important for China since 70 percent of the CPO it needs is imported from Indonesia," Julong China Vice President Xu Yibing stated during a visit to Pembuang Hulu, Seruyan district, Central Kalimantan province, on Thursday.

Yibing informed that the five biggest Chinese importers of CPO are China National Cereal, Oils & Foodstuffs Holding Limited (Cofco), Tianjin Julong Group, Sinograin Oil Corporation, Yinzheng Fangshun Oils & Grains Industry Co ltd, and Wilmar Kerry Investment.

In all, the five companies import two million tons of CPO annually. Eighty percent of the CPO is imported from Indonesia, he pointed out.

Chinas Julong Group, which is one of the biggest CPO importers in China, has opened oil palm plantations in West Kalimantan and Sumatra.

As one of the biggest CPO-importing countries, China pays keen attention to the development of oil palm plantations in Indonesia. For its part, a delegation of Chinese CPO importers led by Yibing visited Seruyan to learn how oil palm plantations in Indonesia were being managed.

"China and Indonesia are facing similar issues in CPO production and environmental sphere. We hope we can learn much from Indonesia about how to manage oil palm plantations and can progress together," he noted.

Meanwhile, Seruyan district head Sudarsono underlined that the high demand for CPO in China has opened up an opportunity for oil palm growers in the district.

(Reported by Fahrian Adriannoor/Uu.S012/INE/KR-BSR/A014)

http://www.antaranews.com/en/news/108033/china-highly-dependent-on-indonesian-cpo

President calls for serious effort to attract 10 million Chinese tourists
Sabtu, 26 November 2016 01:20 WIB | 1.540 Views

Makassar, S Sulawesi (ANTARA News) - President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) has called for a serious effort to attract at least 10 million Chinese tourists to visit Indonesia per year.

"Some 150 million Chinese citizens travel abroad every year. Most of them travel to the US and Europe. I want some 10 million Chinese tourists to visit Indonesia," he said at a function to familiarize the public with the second phase of tax amnesty program here on Friday night.

The president said he has signed an agreement with the Chinese government related to Chinese tourists visit to Indonesia.

"The agreement has been in place. We only prepare flights from China to Indonesia. If the flights are already there, the target of attracting 20 million tourists can be achieved in 2019," he said.

The government is developing 10 key tourist destinations expected to attract more tourists, he said.

"The target of tourist arrivals two years ago was 9 million. We want to increase the target to 20 million in 2019 by all available means including improving our positioning, diversifying products, and building brands," he said.

To achieve the target, the government continued to carry out tourism promotion in major cities abroad, he said.(*)

http://www.antaranews.com/en/news/1...effort-to-attract-10-million-chinese-tourists

 

[Nike]

President vows to cut tax on MSMEs to 0.25 percent
Minggu, 27 November 2016 09:39 WIB | 1.168 Views

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) has vowed to slash the tax on micro small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) from 1 percent to 0.25 percent.

The president wished to cut the tax in response to a request from MSMEs, which considered the tax burdensome, Minister for Cooperatives and Small and Medium Businesses Puspayoga said, after accompanying 31 SMEs during a meeting with the president at the Merdeka Palace, here on Friday.

"The president has agreed to the request. Hopefully, the regulation to that effect could be revised next week so that the tax will no longer stand at 1 percent," he said.

In addition, he will also lower the tariff of redemption money from SMEs taking part in the tax amnesty program, he stressed.

The tariff of redemption money for SMEs declaring their wealth of up to Rp10 billion will remain subject to a redemption tariff of 0.5 percent, he added.

He pointed out that the government is also considering lowering the 2 percent redemption tariff for SMEs declaring wealth of above Rp10 billion.

"The tariff for corporate taxpayer currently reaches 0.5 percent. But the tariff for personal taxpayer must not be 2 percent. It is burdensome. We propose it at 0.5 percent. The president has responded to it and has informed it to the director general of taxation," he remarked.(*)

http://www.antaranews.com/en/news/108058/president-vows-to-cut-tax-on-msmes-to-025-percent

 

[samudro_JOY]

SOE visit to Siemens factory in Cilegon
Tuesday, Nov 29, 2016

Having signed a Letter of Intent (LoI) on 7 September 2016 and, recently Some 10 delegates SOE from PT PAL Indonesia (Persero), PT Barata Indonesia (Persero) and PT Pindad (Persero) visited the factory of PT Siemens Indonesia for the fabrication of components production facility in Cilegon, Banten.

Through this visit, Siemens Indonesia introduced a wide variety of production systems such as checking quality, welding process and manufacturing process applications.

"We hope that the collaboration between Siemens with various state-owned companies will be able to contribute to a crash program 35 GW. A visit to our production facilities in Cilegon to provide a picture directly as well as references to the development of national capacity in the energy sector, "said Christof CICHON, General Manager of PT Siemens Indonesia Cilegon plant.

The signing of the LoI between Siemens and three SOE aims to manufacture gas turbine packages to support various power projects in Indonesia with PLN. Siemens with Barata will work together to develop a supply chain in Indonesia is more reliable and competitive for gas turbine packages.

Cooperation with PT PAL not only for the scope of the manufacturing and design of gas turbine part of the package, but also includes gas turbine package assembly in Indonesia. Through this collaboration, state-owned companies will be collaborating with Siemens to increase the use of DCL on Siemens gas turbines up to 65%.

"We highly appreciate the opportunity to visit the production facilities of Siemens and sharing of knowledge that became the reference for use in projects in the future," said Handoko Sulistyo, chairman of the delegation on this visit at the same time Engineer Manager at PT Barata Indonesia.

youroilandgasnews()com/soe+visit+to+siemens+factory+in+cilegon_138558.html

 

[Nike]

are this means someday Indonesia will be capable to assembling and designing our own gas turbine engine?

 

[Kalazan]

Commentary: Jakarta, the Next Tech Hub We Can't Ignore

Go-Jek, the app-based ride-hailing service, is Indonesia's first local startup to achieve unicorn status — a start-up company valued at over $1 billion — after being valued at approximately $1.3 billion.

Go-Jek has become a household name in Indonesia with a fleet of motorcycle taxis offering a variety of on-demand services including transport and food delivery.

The company's latest valuation has now publicly proven there are billion dollar opportunities in Indonesia.

Quoting Hugh Harsono’s post on Tech Crunch, "Indonesia presents many opportunities for e-commerce among other emerging Asian economies, with current projections putting this archipelago nation’s e-market at $130 billion by 2020 [coming third behind China and India]."

There is no doubt Indonesia presents an abundance of investment opportunities, especially in technology. But, why does Indonesia, especially Jakarta, have the potential to be a regional technology hub?

Jakarta is the largest metropolitan area in Southeast Asia, with around 10 million people residing in the city, and 30 million in Greater Jakarta.

Greater Jakarta alone, is as big as Malaysia, or five times bigger than Singapore and four times larger than New York City in terms of population. Jakarta is the epicenter for business, politics as well as education in Indonesia.

The city is also the local base for global tech companies such as Facebook, Google, Uber and Microsoft for operations in Indonesia.

There is no doubt that Jakarta is a compelling location for technology-enabled businesses as it is the capital of Southeast Asia’s largest economy and fourth most populous nation in the world, but can Jakarta become the next technology hub?

Set out below are some key factors that may propel Indonesia to become the next technology hub.

Compelling market opportunities

Indonesia’s market opportunities are undeniable and for early stage ventures having easy access to large pools of untapped growth is critical for early success in proving user and revenue metrics.

We’ve seen several businesses grow explosively in recent years as products perfectly fit the market. Strong execution has also helped this.

Companies such as Go-Jek, Traveloka and Tokopedia have likely achieved a gross merchandise value that has surpassed $1 billion faster than any other business in Indonesia historically.

Regional companies observing this market potential have rushed to Indonesia to grab a share of the market.

Increasing availability of capital

Where there is an opportunity, there is money. The funding landscape in Indonesia has shown constant growth every year since 2011 to 2015.

Venture capital firms are also quite active in this area. Venturra, backed by Lippo Group, announced that it will invest $150 million in Southeast Asia, including Indonesia.

Convergence Ventures, most recently announced that they will invest $30 million in exceptional entrepreneurs targeting the Indonesian market.

Corporate venture capital companies, as well as angel investors, have also flocked to Indonesia to invest in opportunities.

Tokopedia’s $100 million and subsequent $147 million as well as Go-Jek’s $550 million and MatahariMall’s $500 million and recent $100 million in funding have shown that Indonesia is the next place to invest.

The government has also done their part in helping the startups flourish through their “1000 Startups Movement.” The program’s goal is to grow 1000 startups by 2020, with a hope that they will reach a combined value of $10 billion.

Globally renowned venture firms have also begun to invest directly in Indonesia. This includes Sequoia Capital, KKR, Rocket Internet, which have invested hundreds of millions of dollars into Indonesian Internet businesses.

Increasingly regional venture firms have set up a permanent presence in Jakarta as well.

Increasing availability of talent

Finding talent is inevitably one of the key drivers to be an effective tech hub as well as to bolster the ecosystem.

Jakarta produces thousands of graduates every year from reputable local universities with computer science programs such as University of Indonesia, Bandung Institute of Technology and Binus University.

However, despite the rising demand for talented engineers, there is an excess of demand with some technology companies going so far as to acquiring overseas based technology outsourcing companies to fill the gap.

As an emerging technology ecosystem, Jakarta also has a shortage of Internet executives experienced in key skill sets including digital marketing, business intelligence and data analysis among others.

But, as more people see the opportunity in the market, we are likely to see Indonesian diaspora studying overseas choose to come back to Indonesia, and more expatriates who will come to Indonesia to help fill this talent gap.

Also as international technology companies bring in seasoned experts there will be a transfer of talent to local employees that will help bridge the gap in the long term.

A converging ecosystem for technology and business

Jakarta is the epicenter of business and government activities in Indonesia.

Major multinational companies, the largest banks, local companies and international technology companies make Jakarta their central base. If startups need partnerships to grow and scale, there’s no better place than Jakarta to serve as an address for customers, find talent and capital.

Jakarta has always served as the center for business with most of the large traditional businesses locating their headquarters in the city.

It also serves as the political center for Indonesia with the president and its administration based in Jakarta.

With the government’s focus on initiatives such as the 1000 startups movement being launched, Jakarta will be the first city to reap the benefits from such programs.

Having the critical mass for an ecosystem is important as clustered networks of entrepreneurs, investors and talent create greater opportunities for all stakeholders to engage and address challenges and capture opportunities.

As both regional and local companies converge in Jakarta, this will increase the city’s significance both as the national technology center but also as a future regional hub for digital businesses.

Jakarta is definitely not an easy city to live in, but the size and attraction of the market potential in Indonesia are undeniable.

Indonesia will continue to attract people from across the world to solve large and pressing problems through innovative technology solutions and Jakarta will consolidate its importance as a national and regional hub.

To this end, we believe that within a decade we’ll see Jakarta as the leading technology hub for all of Southeast Asia with a significant number of local and regional Internet companies running their core operations from this city.

jakartapost.co

Indonesia in Good Shape to Weather Shaky Global Finance: IMF

Jakarta. The International Monetary Fund said the Indonesian economy will remain stable in the medium term, and expects the country to be able to weather easily increasing uncertainties in the global economy thanks to prudent fiscal and monetary policies and an effective reform in its bureaucracy.

The Indonesian government has so far managed to maintain strong economic growth, low inflation and healthy current account deficit, according to an end-of-mission statement from the IMF released on Thursday (24/11).

These would serve Southeast Asia's biggest economy well, especially against risks from policy uncertainties in the United States under the new administration of President Donald Trump next year, tight financial conditions globally, slower-than-expected growth in China and a renewed fall in commodity prices.

"The authorities have skillfully navigated the changing currents in international economy," Luis E. Breuer, IMF Article IV Mission to Indonesia's team leader, said in a statement.

The latest report from Indonesia's statistics agency said its economy expanded 5.02 percent in the third quarter this year, a dip from 5.19 percent in the previous quarter.

The government and the central bank expect a 5 percent full-year growth in 2016 and 5.1 percent next year.

Inflation stood at 3.31 percent in October with an average of 3.58 percent in January-October, lower than the 4 percent target in the 2016 revised state budget.

Indonesia's current account deficit reached $4.5 billion in the third quarter — about 1.8 percent of its GDP — lower than the $5 billion in the previous quarter, reducing the country's dependency on financing from abroad.

"The government's fiscal strategy [...] will anchor stability and support medium-term inclusive growth," Breuer said.

Breuer was referring to the 2016 revised state budget in which the government set a less ambitious revenue projection and spending commitments while still keeping its priorities.

The 2017 state budget, according to Breuer, also offers a fiscal buffer by targeting a lower deficit of 2.4 percent of GDP, compared to the 2.7 percent of GDP expected this year.

"The team welcomed the budget plans to expand the taxpayer base, improve targeting of subsidies, increase transfers to local governments and ensure financing for public investment and social programs," he said.

Breuer, however, underlined the weak tax revenues that continue to constrain spending. The government reported that it has only managed to collect Rp 871 trillion ($65 billion) in taxes by the end of October, only 64 percent of its target this year.

On the monetary side, Breuer said Bank Indonesia's current monetary policies are "appropriate" to the government's efforts.

Bank Indonesia, the central bank, has reduced its policy rate by 150 basis points so far this year in an attempt to lower lending rates, boost demand and prop up economic growth.

It has also changed its benchmark rate to the 7-day reverse repo rate for the same reason, hoping it could influence money-market rates more directly.

Breuer and his team lauded the central bank's decision to maintain the 7-day reverse repo rate steady at 4.75 percent in the latest policy meeting this month, and to keep its policy to allow the exchange rate and government bond yield to adjust with some intervention to ensure orderly operation of markets.

"Keeping this flexibility will be important to allow the economy to adjust smoothly to volatile external conditions," he said.

The statement came at the end of an IMF staff team's visit to Indonesia on Nov. 7-18 to conduct the annual Article IV Consultation, which assesses every country's economic conditions in order to foresee global economic risks.

The IMF Executive Board is tentatively scheduled to discuss the staff report in January next year.

Jakartaglobe

 

[ahojunk]

China highly dependent on Indonesian CPO
Kamis, 24 November 2016 23:12 WIB | 1.982 Views

President calls for serious effort to attract 10 million Chinese tourists
Sabtu, 26 November 2016 01:20 WIB | 1.540 Views

Yes, Indonesia wants and should increase its trade with China.

However, FPI mob is damaging the reputation of your country. Worse still, Indonesia could be destabilized leading to splintering which doesn't benefit anyone.
The FPI mob are an irresponsible group taking advantage of the people's emotions.
They should use their head and think it through that their stupidity is not benefiting the nation.
I know that the Indo members here disagree with them but is there anything you can do?

Hardline Islamists push agenda as blasphemy case ignites Indonesia

Western media are already using such inflammatory words as "ignites Indonesia".

 

[kaka404]

Yes, Indonesia wants and should increase its trade with China.

However, FPI mob is damaging the reputation of your country. Worse still, Indonesia could be destabilized leading to splintering which doesn't benefit anyone.
The FPI mob are an irresponsible group taking advantage of the people's emotions.
They should use their head and think it through that their stupidity is not benefiting the nation.
I know that the Indo members here disagree with them but is there anything you can do?

Hardline Islamists push agenda as blasphemy case ignites Indonesia

Western media are already using such inflammatory words as "ignites Indonesia".

as of now imho, other than enlightening others not to support them like what some clerics have done so far, there are none. creating a counter demonstration to counter them is not a good idea. it happened a long time ago and it didn't end well...
....in a way, this is the price we have to pay for our own version of democracy...

there is talk among lawmakers about amending the law on mass organization to ban organization such as this, but if we do have such laws then what would the cost that we have to pay in our future be?

 

[ahojunk]

Just saw on our local TV news about a "counter demonstration".

========
Thousands expected to pray for peace and unity ahead of further Jakarta protests
By Indonesia bureau chief Samantha Hawley
Updated about 9 hours ago

In Jakarta, thousands of people are expected to gather to pray for peace and unity ahead of a protest led by hardline Muslim groups on Friday.

Key points:

• Thousands pray for peace ahead of protest after earlier rally turned violent
• Hardline Muslims want governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama arrested for comments made about the Koran
• Indonesian police reveal suspected Islamic State sympathises had infiltrated the crowd at first demonstration

The gathering on Wednesday morning will take place at the national monument known as Monus, where the Friday rally will also be held.

The last rally led by hardline groups, including the Islamic Defenders Front, attracted more than 100,000 people and turned violent after dark, with police revealing this week that suspected Islamic State sympathises had infiltrated the crowd.

Head of Indonesia's counter-terrorism agency Suhardi Alius has warned that could happen again.

"There is always that potential, we continue to monitor the hardliner groups so that they would not use this momentum as an opportunity," General Alius said.

Yenny Wahid, daughter of former Indonesian president Abdurrahman Wahid, said she had been advised that recently dormant terrorism networks were now re-emerging.

The Islamic activist and head of the Wahid Institute would not elaborate on which groups she was referring to, except to say they had links to Al Qaeda.

"Of course we always have to remember that terrorists, they love chaos because chaos is the gateway for them to create a jihad battleground," Ms Wahid said.

On December 2, protesters will demand the city's governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, who is better known as "Ahok", be detained by police.

The ethnic Chinese Christian governor is running to be elected to the position at a local poll due in February next year, with the protesters accusing him of insulting the Koran during a campaign speech.

Ahok has already been indicted for blasphemy, which under Indonesian law carries a maximum five-year jail term.

PHOTO: Police reveal suspected Islamic State sympathises had infiltrated the crowd at earlier protest. (Reuters: Antara Foto)

The governor has apologised for his comments but said the allegations against him were politically motivated, and welcomed a day in court to clear his name.

His supporters believe the ultimate aim of the Muslim hardliners is to not only end Ahok's political career but to destabilise the Indonesian Government led by the governor's one-time political ally President Joko Widodo.

It is also seen as a test for Indonesia's moderate approach to Islam.

"This is not just about Ahok, this is also about other factions in the society who clearly see an opening and momentum maybe for trying to rock the Government," Ms Wahid said.

After the November rally Mr Widodo accused "political actors" of inflaming tensions.

Former president Susilo Bambang Yudyono has denied allegations he was behind the rally.

Police and military leaders have warned protestors if they attempt to enter the Parliament building on Friday they could be charged with treason, as it will be considered an attempt to bring down the Government.

On Monday, police and the protest groups agreed, unlike last time, Friday's protest would be confined to within the gates of the Monas park.

 

[katarabhumi]

Thursday, 01 December, 2016 | 08:46 WIB
FLEGT Boosts Indonesian Timber Competitiveness, Minister Says

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi said that the Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT) license has provided a comparative advantage to Indonesian timber products.

"With the approval of FLEGT license, we have to make use of our competitive advantage to enter Indonesian wood products to larger markets in the European Union," Minister Retno said in a press release quoted by Antara news agency on Wednesday, November 30, 2016.

The statement was made following the FLEGT license official authorization event in Brussels, which was attended by Federica Mogherini, the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the European Union, and the European Union Commissioner for the Environment, Maritime and Fisheries Affairs Karmenu Vella.

FLEGT is an agreement established by the European Union and its partner countries that aimed at ensuring the legality of products, production sustainability, and compliance with the principles of environmental preservation.

FLEGT is also aimed at assisting EU partner countries in eradicating illegal logging through better forest governance and regulation issuance.

"With the FLEGT license, Indonesian timber exported to Europe will be able to enter the country through green lane access," Retno said.

ANTARA

http://en.tempo.co/read/news/2016/1...donesian-Timber-Competitiveness-Minister-Says
http://en.tempo.co/read/news/2016/1...donesian-Timber-Competitiveness-Minister-Says
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