Emerging market currencies have been rising

Indonesian rupiah banknotes are seen in this picture illustration taken in Jakarta January 17, 2011. Indonesia moved a step closer toward securing a coveted top sovereign debt grading on Monday when Moodys upgraded its foreign and local-currency bond ratings to Ba1 from Ba2. Indonesia has been a darling of foreign investors for the last two years and has ridden out the global financial crisis with flying colours.

The appreciation in the Indonesian rupiah has been within an acceptable range, and the country and its exporters can generally tolerate it, Indonesia's Finance Minister Agus Martowardojo said in an interview in New York on Monday.

Emerging market currencies have been rising, but investors are getting increasingly hopeful that countries like Indonesia and Brazil will allow at least some of that appreciation to remain and not intervene too much. A stronger currency helps fight inflation, which is rising in the emerging world.

The finance minister's comments seemed to support this view. So far rupiah appreciation is still in the “acceptable“ range, he said. Exports are still “growing and improving,“ he added, noting that the appreciation doesn't seem to be hurting exporters.

“We are willing to tolerate (this much appreciation),“ he said.

There is at the same time a need to monitor the global environment, where issues like turmoil in the Middle East has contributed to commodity inflation, he said. A stronger rupiah “basically helps us in managing inflation,“ he said.

US Forgives USD 50 Million Indonesia Debt to Conserve Forest

A forest is cleared for land by a burning nearbye in Pangkalan Kuras on October 2, 2010 in Riau Province, Sumatra, Indonesia. Norway entered a partnership with Indonesia to support Indonesias efforts to reduce emissions from deforestation and degradation of forests and peat lands.

Surabaya - Breaking News: The United States has written off Indonesian debts totaling 50 million US in exchange for the conservation of forests in Sumatera and Kalimantan, a US official said here Friday.

"We have forgiven Indonesian debts amounting to 50 million US dollars in favor of a forest conservation program in Indonesia," US Deputy Ambassador to Indonesia Ted Osius said.

He said the funds Indonesia would otherwise have to set aside to pay the debts would be used to conserve forests in Sumatra (30 million US dollars) and in Kalimantan (20 million US dollars).

Therefore, Osius said, he hoped the Indonesian government could make use of the funds to rehabilitate forests that had become critical in recent years. Beforehand, the US government had provided a 500 million US dollar grant for an environmental conservation program in Indonesia to be implemented over the next five years.

"Our government is very concerned about environmental conservation in Indonesia," Osius said at a meeting with environmental and human right activists.

There were six countries, including Indonesia, which were receiving the US government’s serious attention in relation with environmental conservation.

"The US consulate general in Surabaya is responsible for assiating environemmenal conservation in eastern Indonesia," he said.

Despite the environmental conservation program, the US government also paid attention on protection of marine and energy which was based on environment in facing climate change.

"We even support the Indonesian government to be able to explore alternative energy potentials that have yet to be developed," he said.

Police Said: We want to know where he gets all stuffs

This photograph taken on February 24, 2011 shows fisherman unloading freshly caught fish at Bitung town fishport in North Sulawesi province. Bitung is one of the major fish port in Sulawesi island. Fishing is a thriving industry in Indonesia an archipelago of 17,000 islands.

SuGuluk-Guluk villagemenep district police investigators have yet to summon the victim of blast fishing in Kandibas hamlet,  on April 6, a policeman said.

The victim, Muhlis, was still under the intensive care of Moh.Anwar general hospital’s doctors due to his serious injuries, Sumenep police spokesman, Commissioner Edy Purwanto said.

Speaking to newsmen here Saturday, he said Muhlis’ serious wounds had forced him to remain at the hospital so that the police investigators could not yet summon him for questioning. Muhlis was suspected of possessing the home-made bomb frequently used for poaching.

The police did not only find the home-made bomb materials but also a home-made gun and bullets in his house. "We want to know where he gets all stuffs," he said.

Edy Purwanto said a number of policemen were deployed to the hospital to secure him and monitor his health condition. The home-made bomb exploded inside Muhlis’ house on Wednesday at 05.30 am local time, damaging the house and injuring him.

Blast fishing activity in various parts of Indonesia, including East Java Province, can still be found. This condition has attracted world attention. Endowed by nature with more than 50,000 square kilometers of coral reefs, Indonesia has been listed by the United Nations as a nation with the largest coral reef resources in the world, along with Australia and the Philippines.

According to the United Nations Environment Program World Conservation Monitoring Center (UNEP-WCMC)’s World Atlas of Coral Reefs (2001), Indonesia had 51,020 square kilometers of coral reefs or 17.95 percent of the world’s coral reefs.

This archipelagic nation topped the list , followed by Australia with 48,460 square kilometers, the Philippines (25,060), France (14,280), Papua New Guinea (13,840), Fiji (10,020), Maldives (8,920), Saudi Arabia (6,660), Marshall Islands (6,110) and India (5,790).

The benefits that Indonesia can get from its coral reefs are obvious because coral reefs are evidently the sources of food and income for a lot of people from fisheries and tourism and also sources of raw materials for medicines.

But the UNEC-WCMC has warned that activities, such as fishing using explosives, are seriously degrading coral reefs in various parts of the world, including in Indonesia.

The UN body’s warning is based on factual information collected over the years. Blast fishing itself has been practiced in Indonesia since World War II.

How Well Prepared is Indonesia to Face The Next Tsunami?

Women watch screens at an earthquake monitoring room in Jakarta, in this picture taken April 1, 2011. In 2004 a tsunami as high as 30 metres swept away 160,000 lives in the Sumatran province of Aceh alone, plus more than 60,000 from Thailand to Africa. Indonesias government started to prepare for tsunami after 2004, but by contrast Japan started building awareness and relevant technology in the 1960s and yet still struggled to cope with the devastating impact of the wave that struck last month. Picture taken April 1.

In daily games and quizzes with his children, Hardimansyah slips in these questions: Where’s your rucksack? What can you do with a candle? Where do you run to if I’m not with you when a tsunami is closing in?

Hardimansyah’s family lives on the small Mentawai islands off Indonesia’s Sumatra, which experts predict will see an earthquake sometime in the next decade followed by a tsunami just seven minutes later, even faster than the one that hit Japan in March.

“I didn’t know what a tsunami looked like until I saw it on TV. All of a sudden I felt like I was there, I almost couldn’t bear to witness it,” said Hardimansyah, in a shaky voice.

He works on the beach in the fishing industry but was away from the coast last year when a giant wave killed hundreds in the Mentawai islands. In 2004 a tsunami as high as 30 metres swept away 160,000 lives in the Sumatran province of Aceh alone, plus more than 60,000 from Thailand to Africa.

Sumatran residents found footage of Japan’s tsunami horrendous, but also inspiring because of the composure of the Japanese people. This has led Indonesia to reassess its own preparedness.

“Japan is very prepared, and looking at Japan, I know we have a lot of homework to do,” said Wisnu Wijaya, a director at the National Disaster Mitigation Agency.

Indonesia’s government started to prepare for tsunami after 2004, but by contrast Japan started building awareness and relevant technology in the 1960s and yet still struggled to cope with the devastating impact of the wave that struck last month.

The areas at risk in the Indonesian archipelago are mostly not industrialised, in contrast to Japan. The United Nations has told governments in Asia’s most catastrophe-prone areas that they should set aside 10 percent of their development funds to limit the risk of disaster, but Indonesia struggles to fund basic infrastructure normally.

The government is spending 13 trillion Indonesian rupiah ($1.49 billion) on disaster mitigation this year, or just 1 percent of its 2011 budget. This was also only about 5 percent of what Japan spent in 2007, the disaster agency said.

Short memory

Aceh has been rebuilt after funds poured in for reconstruction from around the world, and the national economy and stock market grew strongly in early 2005. While there is a rule to build away from the Aceh coast, protective mangroves have not been planted and some residents want to return to live on the beach.

“The Japan tsunami has become a sobering reminder for me that my biggest fear right now is if we are still not ready when tsunami comes again,” said Aceh resident Rony Muchtar. “Our knowledge is very low on the risks and I’m not confident we have learned enough lessons from the 2004 tsunami.”

Japan’s March 11 tsunami reached eastern Indonesia as a fast-moving one metre wave, but despite hours of warning, a man in Papua was killed, apparently drowned. Days later a false alarm in Aceh led people to flee to the hills and two people died in the panic.

In terms of monitoring earthquakes and detecting the possibility of a tsunami, Indonesia has lifted the number of its seismographs to about 150, versus 50 before the 2004 tsunami, but compared to Japan’s 1,000.

In recent years, an early warning system has been wired to sirens in public places and mosques, a few tsunami-proof escape buildings have been built, and the government has designed maps showing the areas most at risk in Sumatra.

However, other islands such as Java and Bali also run along a faultline between plates in the earth’s crust in the Pacific “Rim of Fire”, and so are also tsunami-prone but lag behind in terms of preparedness.

These areas, including the traffic-logged capital Jakarta with 10 million people, do not yet have equivalent detailed disaster maps to understand the threats nor evacuation schemes, said a spokesman for the national disaster agency.

The country also lacks the national disaster mitigation laws of Japan, and cannot match the mental preparedness of the Japanese, where the topic is part of the school curriculum and has become ingrained in the population.

Three minutes

Danny Hilman Natawidjaja, of the Indonesia Science Institutes, who has studied the crust under Mentawai since the 1990s, said a clash in the plates in the next 10 years could cause a quake measuring 8.9 on the Richter scale, followed by an 8-metre high tsunami. The country’s early warning system, using German technology, can decide tsunami potential from a quake in four minutes.

So for Hardimansyah on the Mentawai islands, that means he has about three minutes to escape to the hills. The television footage from Japan is the reason he continues to remind his three children what they should do.

“If Daddy is not home when the tsunami hits, get out of the house and follow the crowd. Daddy will be waiting for you on higher ground,” the 41-year-old tells them. He has prepared bags for each of his children containing a blanket, a jacket, instant noodles, matches and a candle.

“We can’t defy nature,” he said. “What we can do is to prepare as much as we can."

U.S. firms are eyeing

Breaking News - Jakarta: U.S. firms are eyeing investments in Indonesian infrastructure such as railways and airports but are concerned about graft and a lack of protection of intellectual property rights, the U.S. under secretary of commerce said on Monday.

Under President Barack Obama, the United States is trying to improve ties with the world’s most populous Muslim country, including through investment and by boosting bilateral trade of $23 billion a year, which is two thirds of Indonesia’s trade with China.

“We have some American companies that are interested in supporting Indonesian transportation infrastructure needs, particularly in the railway system,” Francisco Sanchez said in an interview with Reuters.

He declined to identify the companies. Indonesia’s government plans next week to offer investors $32 billion worth of infrastructure projects, including a railway, toll road and power plant, as Southeast Asia’s largest economy struggles to fund an overhaul of its transport network.

Inadequate infrastructure is seen as both an investment opportunity and an obstacle to growth, and was cited by Fitch Ratings last month as a key risk to the chances of the country winning an investment grade rating in the next 12-18 months. Other sectors U.S. investors are interested in are healthcare, agriculture and green energy, said Sanchez, in Jakarta to explore closer commercial ties.

Indonesia opened up healthcare for foreign investment last year, and is looking to boost food security and expand geothermal power, where U.S. energy major Chevron is already an investor. Foreign direct investment has picked up in Indonesia in the past year, but there has been far more investment from Asia than from U.S. or European firms, with Japan having pledged more than $50 billion in infrastructure investment.

Indonesian President Susilo Bambang has vowed to tackle corruption, a concern for many investors, though progress appears to have stalled. Sanchez said further reforms on transparency were needed to attract more investment.

“Corruption, protection of intellectual property rights and overall transparency, all of these will have more long-term impact and positive impact on the Indonesian economy,” he said, adding businesses also wanted an opportunity to have a say on proposed regulations and laws.

Policy flip-flops have been a major concern for investors, particularly in the resources sector with rules aimed at reducing foreign ownership or involvement. Exxon Mobil has been in protracted negotiations over gas fields, while Indonesian regional authorities are competing with the national government to grab a stake in a nickel mine operated by U.S. miner Newmont.

Threats From Mexico May Move to U.S. Littorals, Official Says

Despite plenty of bumps and bruises along the way, the Department of Homeland Security says that it now has a viable, sustainable, affordable plan for using a mix of technology and border patrol agents to provide security along the southern and northern borders. Note that I didn’t say absolute security—DHS and Border Patrol officials will be the first to tell you that perfect security along the border is a chimera not worth chasing, even with the addition of National Guard troops along the southern border. 

As a matter of fact, those 1,200 troops sent by president Obama last year are scheduled to leave in June of this year, to be replaced by 1,000 new Border Patrol agents. Speaking at a border security symposium Monday morning in Washington, David Aguilar, deputy commissioner of the Customs and Border Protection, called the National Guard deployment a “bridge” to growing the Border Patrol and getting new technologies in the field.

If the growth in the number of officers on the ground and the new commercial off the shelf technologies work the way the government envisions—leading to some high-traffic smuggling routes being choked off—Aguilar predicts that the problem will simply move rather than disappear, just as it did in the 80s and 90s from the Caribbean to Mexico as the point of transit north. Aguilar sees the next drug smuggling battleground being in the littoral waters along the Gulf Coast and along the Pacific coast. He said that the Department of Homeland Security is working through the Coast Guard to prepare for such a future.

But reducing drug smuggling, cross-border gun running, money laundering, and illegal immigration must come from some serious cross-border coordination said K. Jack Riley, director, RAND National Defense Research Institute. He said that Mexico’s “fractured law enforcement and security service” and “tremendous command and control problems” need to be addressed with more American help, but this assistance shouldn’t be relegated to technology transfers. 

Over the last decade the U.S. has done a pretty good job of helping Mexico with technology such as helicopters and surveillance systems, but what we haven’t done enough of is to “engage with them in institution building and capacity” development, in an effort to assist with programs the Mexican government already has in place to clean up and reform an often corrupt and ineffective Mexican police force.

Mexican officials were in Washington on Monday to defend the conduct of its war on drug cartels before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, part of the Organization of American States. Mexico’s under-secretary for Juridical Affairs and Human Rights, Felipe de Jesus Zamora, squared off with representatives from 18 aid groups who criticized the conduct of Mexican security forces. 

While Zamora claimed that his government is conducting the fight “with strict respect for human rights,” Carlos Karin Zazueta of Citizens in Support of Human Rights told the organization that the war on the cartels is failing, since “violence, the murder rate and citizen insecurity have skyrocketed.” Complaints about human rights abuses by Mexican security forces have been well documented, and are something that the United States can help with, if it decides to focus on training, and capacity building.

Pic: National Guard

Posted by Paul McLeary

Agenda of Meeting with FIFA President over PSSI Crisis

Indonesian Ambassador to Switzerland Djoko Susilo is to meet FIFA President Joseph Sepp Blatter on Tuesday to enlighten the latter about the crisis happening in the All-Indonesia Football Association (PSSI).

"The time and agenda of the meeting has been set. I will brief the FIFA chief on what the government knows about the trouble in PSSI, including happenings ahead of the PDDI congress," Djoko Susilo said when contacted by telephone from Jakarta on Saturday.

He said FIFA had so far been receiving one-sided information, namely from PSSI itself. "Now I have been assigned by the government to explain the crisis in PSSI based on data it possesses," he said.

Apart from clarifying current developments in Indonesian football, Djoko would also ask Blatter about the PSSI rules of association endorsed by FIFA whereby Nurdin Halid, the present PSSI chairman was able to get reelected at the PSSI congress in 2007.

"FIFA should also be informed of what the government knows. So far, it has been fed with information from PSSI only. In short, I will meet Sepp Blatter so that he does not only have a one-sided understanding of the PSSI crisis," Djoko said.

Djoko who is a former member of the House of Representatives (DPR)’s Commission I, said the trouble happening in PSSI was a crucial matter because it involved the public and had become a national issue.

"Just wait, I will duly report on the outcome of my meeting with the FIFA chief. I will enlighten him on developments in Indonesian football, including the government’s role in supervising sports," he said.

Djoko said if the explanations he would give to Blatter did not satisfy FIFA, he might ask Youth and Sports Minister Andi Mallarangeng, who was the one who had asked him to meet the FIFA leadership, to come to the FIFA headquarters in Zurich himself.

The PSSI crisis evolves around the present chairman Nurdin Halid’s candidacy for another term in office ahead of a PSSI congress although under his leadership Indonesian football remained void of any significant achievement.

A committee responsible for verification of the eligibility of candidates for the PSSI chair recently named Nurdin and one of his long-time associates as the only candidates fit to stand in the election. This triggered wide-spread protests across the country and a commission handling appeals on the verification committee’s decision eventually revoked Nurdin’s nomination.

As a result of the problem, the PSSI executive board decided to postpone the timeline of the association’s congress while FIFA had ruled that the congress must take place before April 30.

PT Palindo Marine Industri (PMI) Based in Batam has Produced a Warship

National ship-building company PT Palindo Marine Industri (PMI) based in Batam has produced a warship, the KRI Clurit-641, that will soon reinforce the Indonesian Navy’s fleet.

"We now have something to be proud of because we prove to have human resources capable of making a warship," Defense Minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro said when visiting PMI’s ship-building yard here Sunday.

KRI Celurit-641 which was built with the help of graduates from the Surabaya Institute of Technology is equipped with a Sensor Weapon Control (Sewaco) system, 6 caliber 30 canons forming a Close in Weapon System (CIWS) and missiles.

Some 44 meters long, 8 meters wide and 3.4 meters high, the ship can develop a maximum speed of 30 knots and fire C-705 guided missiles over a distance of several hundred meters.

Its engine powers a five-blade propulsion propeller. Rear Admiral Marsatio, commander of the Indonesian Navy’s Western Fleet, said KRI Clurit-641 featured technological devices that were not second to those used on foreign warships.

"We have reason to be proud because we can now make our own warships, he said.

Indonesia cannot meet its daily crude oil

A PT Pertamina worker opens a gauge near crude oil tanks on Bunyu island, Indonesias East Kalimantan province February 8, 2011. Indonesian state energy firm Pertamina plans to spend USD1 billion in 2011 for acquisitions of oil and gas blocks, as the country seeks to boost declining production. Pertamina has said it expects crude and condensate production of 132,000 barrels per day for this year, up just 1 percent from last year, though the former OPEC member country has often missed production targets because of declining output at ageing fields.

Indonesia cannot meet its daily crude oil production target of 970,000 barrels due to various problems hampering production so there is a shortfall of 70,000 barrels per day, according to the Upstream Oil and Gas Executive Agency (BP Migas).

BP Migas spokesperson Elan Biantoro told media here, on Thursday, that crude production in the period of January 1 to February 22 amounted to 905,000 barrels per day. The potential crude loss caused by the problems have reached 37,850 barrels per day.

The daily production figure of 905,000 barrels per day falls short of the targeted 970,000 barrels per day as set in the state revenue and expenditure budget for 2011, he added. Biantoro said that there are 105 causes which have caused the potential loss ranging from unplanned shutdowns, off-takings to delays in project implementation.

He explained the unplanned shutdowns have been due to natural disturbances such as excessive rainfalls, lightning strikes, high waves and floods. Production disturbance outside planning, he said, has been related to the breakdowns of production facilities that shutting down production operations that causing a potential loss of 8,000 barrels per day.

Other problems registered as being production non-loss potentials but remaining to have posed as reasons for production disturbances, including land overlapping that impacting on the delays in well drilling schedules that happening at Chevron Pacific Indonesia, Petrochina Jabung, Pertamina EP and JOB Talisman Jambi Merang.

Biantoro said BP Migas will launch a more intensive control over the five biggest contractors whose production have significantly dwindled, namely Chevron Pacific Indonesia, Pertamina EP, Total E&P Indonesia, ConocoPhillips and Kodeco Energy whose production has totally decreased about 10,000 barrels per day.

However, for liquefied natural gas, production up to February 22 has indicated a satisfactory performance with a daily production of 8.66 million cubic meters, so that total combined production of oil and gas amounting to 2.45 million barrels equivalent of oil per day, surmounting the state budget target of 2.36 million barrels per day.

"The shortfall in crude production is compensated by the performance of gas production," he said.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono left Brunei Darussalam for Tanjung Pinang

Visiting Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono left Brunei Darussalam for Tanjung Pinang, Riau Islands Province, for a working visit on Friday. President Yudhoyono and his entourage departed from Brunei Darussalam International Airport at 10 in the morning or 11 am Western Indonesia Standard Time (WIB).

Before leaving Brunei Darussalam, President Yudhoyono took a few minutes of his time to go jogging with Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah and a number of two countries officials at Taman Peranginan Tasik. Accompanied by First Lady Ani Yudhoyono, the Indonesian head of State were in Brunei for a two-day visit from Friday to discuss increasing cooperation in various fields.

According to a statement from the president’s special staff for international relations Teuku Faizasyah, a memorandum of understanding on agriculture and a Letter of Intent in fishery were signed before the president during the visit. On Saturday morning President Yudhoyono also planted a tree at Perangin Tasek Lama Garden in capital Bandar Seri Begawan.

The president also met with Indonesian community in Bandar Seri Begawan and attend the dedication of the new Indonesian embassy building at Wisma Duta Indonesia guest house on Friday.

"The state visit is expected to deepen the relations between Indonesia and Brunei Darussalam. Concrete plans in the field of consular affairs, trade and agriculture are expected to also help increase the weight of the two countries’ relations," Teuku Faizasyah said.

He added that the two countries were now just planning to increase cooperation in infrastructure investment, health and fishery as well as people-to-people contacts. Among the ministers in his delegation are foreign minister Marty Natalegawa, education minister M Nuh, manpower and transmigration minister Muhaimin Iskandar, minister of culture and tourism Jero Wacik and minister of energy and mineral resources Darwin Saleh.

Could Sunrise from the West?

"No Judgement Day will arrive before sunrise from the west"

Further investigation of anomalies in 2012 arrived at a scientific verification of the most thrilling: NASA prediction that within the next few years there is the possibility of changing the earth's magnetic poles, which is a thousand-year cycles of the planets and stars. Though hard to believe, as an example of NASA said that in 2001 we star-matahariku, who sung Agnes has changed poles. But because the mass of the sun is relatively uniform and we do not live there, then people do not feel this change is relative.

As we know the earth can be likened to an egg which the eggshell is land and ocean where we stand, and liquid egg is volcanic material of molten metal and the earth's core is the yolk which is a high-temperature solid metal. And this is what the earth's core has a magnetic field that comes out of the north pole to south pole, known as the Van Hallen belt. This magnetic field protects Earth from cosmic rays that allow the sun to walk with a normal life.

In the last few decades has shifted north pole revealed in a significant degree, and no one can determine when there was a shift of total North Pole becomes the South Pole. Could in a matter of years, or are still hundreds of years. Not that the earth is rotating back, but because the earth's core and the crust is filled with fluid, the core position and the actual rotating keraklah (Like rotate in egg yolk which is silent).
So whether its effect on life in this world? One thing that certainly is our compass needle will no longer pointed toward the north but to follow the North magnetic pole has moved in the South.

Just a compass needle to change direction? Maybe. Worst scenarionya even a slight possibility of magnetic interference which may damage electronic equipment, satellite, power plants or other technological devices. Ooh, so actually we do not have to worry about right? As predicted the solar storm in 2012 that featured a compass, perhaps more government efforts to mitigate damage to the GPS equipment and telecommunications facilities.
So we really do not need to worry? Try to think again, if the earth's North magnetic pole is in the South, where is our Sun will rise?

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/wahw33d/~3/L5tCqzNO62c/mungkinkah-matahari-terbit-dari-barat.html