National Car Name's ESEMKA

Jakarta:The Kiat Esemka Sport utility vehicle (SUV) is not the first car to be produced by Indonesia. According to Wikipedia, national automotive businessmen have developed 16 other brands since the 1990s. Unfortunately, most of the innovative projects collapsed due to problems including the monetary crisis and political turbulence in 1998.

Bakrie and Brothers developed the first national car in 1994. The Beta 97 MPV minibus was designed by UK-based automotive designer, Shado. The prototype of Beta was released in 1997 but the development was terminated due to the monetary crisis.

A year later, President Soeharto issued a policy on the development of a national car, Timor, which was short f orTeknologi Industri Mobil Rakyat. His youngest son, Hutomo Mandala Putra, developed the Timor S515 sedan, which was a derivation of Korea’s Kia Sephia 1995. Further developments were halted due to the monetary crisis.

At the same time, Timor, B.J. Habibie, the then research and technology minister, designed a car called Maleo. The 1,200 cc car was made with 80 percent local components and was supposed to be sold at Rp30 million. The development also ended as the research fund was used for Timor.

However, not all national car projects failed. Besides Esemka, there are currently several brands that are ready to be marketed, such as the GEA mini car produced by PT Industri Kereta Api, Nuri and Tawon produced by PT Super Gasindo Jaya, Marlip electric car produced by the Indonesia Institute of Sciences (LIPI) and off road car, Komodo, which was released by PT Fin Komodo Teknologi.

The Industry Ministry’s land transportation industry director, Supriyanto, said that Indonesia could produce its own cars within the next five years. To support the design development, the government will provide incentives, including research and human development support. “So far, Indonesia only assembled cars, while the designs are made overseas,” he said. FERY FIRMANSYAH | EKA UTAMI APRILIA

ASEAN Has Good Single Currency Prospect

Diponegoro University economist Nugroho SBM said in Semarang Friday that ASEAN remains an important geopolitical and economic power in Asia, and even in the world, and therefore a single currency will strengthen it against pressure from the US dollar for instance.

With ASEAN having a single currency, he said, the strong effect of the US dollar in that part of the world would be sterilized and thus strengthening the monetary position of the ASEAN countries.
"It would take a very long time. The European Union alone needed 60 years before agreeing to use the euro as a single currency, bit it would be better to discuss the foundation of an ASEAN single currency from now on," he said.

He said Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, and the Philippines may serve as a driving power for the formation of a single currency because they have a dominating trade volume among the ASEAN member countries.

He also said that it is indeed not easy to form an ASEAN single currency because such a great idea will be facing an obstacle from the countries with an already strong currency and did not wish their monetary data be known to other countries.
"The formation of a single currency needs central interbank transparency while not all the central banks of the member countries are open to information. This is one of the serious obstacles," he said.
Nugroho predicted that China and India will be playing an increasing important role in the world economy and in the Asian region which was marked with the huge trade volume of the two countries with the ASEAN member countries.

According to data, ASEAN trade with India in 2010 stood at 50 billion US dollars, while China has since the introduction of the China-ASEAN free trade set a target of its trade with ASEAN of 500 billion US dollars by 2015.

Indonesia : President Picks new Cabinet

Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono picked respected technocrats for the top posts in his new cabinet, signalling his commitment to much-needed reform of the bureaucracy and investment in infrastructure.

Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati and Trade Minister Mari Pangestu, two economists who have raised the profile of Indonesia, a Group of 20 (G20) member, kept their posts.

Another technocrat, Kuntoro Mangkusubroto, will head a new, presidential delivery unit to drive reform of the civil service, the judiciary and push through infrastructure projects.

The new unit, which some analysts say could be modelled on former British prime minister Tony Blair’s delivery unit, or the “West Wing” in Washington, could help improve coordination between the various ministries and resolve many of the bottlenecks holding back economic growth.

Yudhoyono, a reformist ex-general who was sworn in for a second, five-year term on Tuesday, announced a cabinet containing few surprises as most future ministers had been seen visiting the president in recent days to be interviewed for their jobs.

Indonesia, Southeast Asia’s biggest economy, is forecast to expand between 4 and 4.5 percent this year, and has lagged its larger rivals, China and India, for years in terms of growth and its ability to attract investment.

Clearing up corruption, red tape

Investors frequently cite corruption, red tape, legal uncertainty and shoddy infrastructure as the main deterrents to investment. Yudhoyono has promised to address these areas in his second term in order to turn Indonesia into a more attractive investment destination.

“Annual economic growth could hit 6 percent in the next five years but if the government has new policies in place such as ones regarding infrastructure, growth could even be higher,” said Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa, economist at Danareksa in Jakarta.

Analysts had welcomed the selection of key technocrats but expressed disappointment at some of the political selections, particularly of Darwin Saleh, the new energy and mining minister, who is relatively unknown and appears to have little experience of this important sector.

Fauzi Ichsan, senior economist at Standard Chartered Bank in Jakarta, said the credibility of Indrawati, Pangestu and Vice President Boediono should calm any market nerves.

“Their credibility should help ease worries over the capability of the new faces in the economic team,” said Ichsan.

Hatta Rajasa, one of the president’s trusted aides, was appointed Co-ordinating Minister for the Economy, while M.S. Hidayat, who heads the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, will be Industry Minister.

Gita Wirjawan, a former banker at JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs, will head the Investment Co-ordinating Board with a mandate to attract more investment.

Sumber : Reuters

Indonesia goverment declare Idul Fitri 2009

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - The government declared here on Saturday that this year`s Idul Fitri or end of the fasting month of Ramadhan will fall on Sunday, September 20.

The declaration was contained in the decision of the minister of religious affairs issued based upon the results of calculation and observation by various Islamic organizations submitted to the meeting to determine the end of the fasting month at the ministry of religious affairs Saturday evening.

In the decision read out by the chairman of the calculation and observation agency, KH Hadi Abdul Fatah, it was stated that all experts on calculation and sighting of the new moon determined that the end of the fasting month fell on September 20.

"The new moon has been sighted at Pelabuhan Ratu, Sukabumi, and at Grand Mosque in Semarang," he said.

Based on the decision, Moslems in the country are allowed to conduct Idul Fitri prayers on Sunday.(*)