“We are planning to build several football schools here,” club chief executive Ernesto Paolillo told reporters through a local translator.

“Indonesia is very important for us because the country has a lot of Inter Milan fans,” he said, without giving further details of the plan.

Local media showed images of the team arriving at the airport in Jakarta, where throngs of fans greeted them. The club claims to have 15 million fans in the country of 240 million people.

The team will play a friendly Thursday evening against an all-star Indonesian team made up of players from the national team, elite leagues and the under-23 youth team.

They will play the same team in a second friendly on Saturday.

“It’s the first time I’ve been to this country and it’s a real honour,” said captain Javier Zanetti.

“Thank you for the warmth you’ve shown. It’s been a tough season but we hope to make our fans happy, at least over the next few days.”

(AFP)

Founded in 1946, Cannes came into being right around the same time that Dian’s homeland gained its independence. Today the festival, named for the French Riviera town that plays host, is one of the international film industry’s marquee annual events.

“It’s become one of the most prestigious film festivals in the world,” said Juliette Derosiaux, audio visual executive of the Institut Francais Indonesia. “Every year, the best movies from all over the world, from all genres, are presented.”

A series of film screenings, master classes and exhibitions are scheduled during the 12-day festival, which wraps up on Sunday. But perhaps the most popular feature is the red carpet processions, in which world-famous celebrities looking their best walk into the Palais des Festivals et des Congres, where the film festival is held.

This year, Dian will share in that limelight. L’Oreal Paris has selected the actress as its first Indonesian brand ambassador to attend the prestigious gathering.

“I feel honored and grateful to have been chosen,” Dian said, beaming.

L’Oreal Paris has been the official makeup partner of the event for 15 years. Every year, L’Oreal invites international brand ambassadors, who are all famous actresses, to the festival.

This year, Dian will attend Cannes along with American actresses Andie MacDowell and Aimee Mullins, Chinese beauty Gong Li, Australian actress Megan Gale and Bollywood actress Sonam Kapoor.

“This is a very important chapter, a new chapter in the history of L’Oreal Paris in the Cannes Film Festival,” said Vismay Sharma, president director of L’Oreal Paris Indonesia. “As a tribute to Indonesia as a country and a tribute to the Indonesian market, this year, for the very first time, we invited an Indonesian spokesperson to the Cannes Film Festival.”

Dian is also the first brand ambassador from Southeast Asia to represent L’Oreal at Cannes.

“China, India and Indonesia are countries with the biggest populations in Asia,” said Monika Ardianti Sugiharso, marketing manager of L’Oreal Paris Indonesia. “L’Oreal Paris has agreed that it’s time for Indonesia to have a presence in the international film festival this year.”

The selection process began early this year, with L’Oreal Paris Indonesia forwarding Dian’s profile to its headquarters in Paris.

“Dian has multi-dimensional beauty,” Monika said. “She’s not only beautiful on the outside, but she’s also very talented.”

The 30-year-old film actress started her career as a model, which took off in 1996 after winning Gadis Sampul, a beauty pageant held by Gadis magazine.

It was film director Rudi Soedjarwo who first recognized her acting talents and invited her to star in “Bintang Jatuh” (“Shooting Star”) in 2000. But it was her second movie, “Pasir Berbisik” (“Whispering Sands,” 2001) that catapulted Dian to stardom. The film earned Dian the Best Actress awards at the Deauville Asian Film Festival and the Singapore International Film Festival in 2002.

She also won the title of Best Actress at the Indonesian Film Festival (FFI) in 2004, for her role in the movie “Ada Apa Dengan Cinta?” (“What’s Up With Love?,” 2002) and 2005’s Most Promising Newcomer title at the Asia-Pacific Film Festival in Kuala Lumpur.

“I’ve attended a number of international film festivals before,” Dian said. “But none of them matches the scale of the Cannes Film Festival that I’m about to attend. I’m so thrilled.”

Dian will attend a series of media interviews and cocktail parties over the weekend.

“I’ll be the first one [brand ambassador] from Indonesia in Cannes,” she said. “The reporters will surely ask a lot about Indonesia.”

Dian and her team have been preparing to answer those questions.

“I have to be prepared to answer their questions about the current issues on Indonesia, such as gender equality and poverty alleviation,” she said.

Dian will also appear in the most anticipated event of the festival, the closing ceremony, where the coveted Palme d’Or is awarded to the international film industry’s best.

How has Dian prepared for the big event?

“I have to look my best,” she said.

That has meant a strict beauty regime for more than a month prior to Dian’s departure for France.

“No matter how tired I am at night, I have to clean up my face and diligently apply the night cream,” she said. “Soft and supple facial skin is very important for the perfect look.”

Famous American makeup artist William Norris Brasfield, also known as Billy B., will do Dian’s makeup.

Billy B. is one of the most sought-after makeup artists in the world. Among his loyal clientele are top names in the international music industry, including Lady Gaga, Beyonce and Mary J. Blige.

During the film festival, Dian will show off the latest makeup collection from L’Oreal, “Cannes Electric.” The new palette is dominated by neon-bright colors, such as fuchsia, red and orange.

“The colors are perfect for Dian’s light brown skin,” L’Oreal Paris Indonesia makeup artist Adi Adrian said.

The dresses that Dian wears will also be under the spotlight over the course of the week.

For her media interviews in Cannes, Dian will wear an off-shoulder cocktail dress by top Indonesian fashion designer Sebastian Gunawan.

“He [Sebastian] said that he was inspired by Audrey Hepburn’s dresses in the 1950s,” Dian said.

The A-line taffeta dress will be enhanced with a handwoven shawl from Bali.

On awards night, Dian will wear an evening gown by haute couture designer Eddy Betty.

“It’s such a privilege for me to design a dress for the red carpet moment at Cannes,” Eddy said. “I’m both anxious and thrilled. The dress has to be excellent. All eyes will be on it.”

Eddy’s creation was inspired by Indonesian dodotan, or a long piece of batik wrapped around the body and secured with a knot, usually worn during traditional Javanese ceremonies. His one-shoulder dress has ornate floral embellishments on the bodice and draperies cascading down the lower front of the skirt. It is embellished with French Chantilly lace in various hues of orange.

“I tie-dyed it myself,” Eddy said. “I think orange goes very well with Dian’s beautiful skin color.”

For the after-party, Dian will wear designer Didit Hediprasetyo’s silver long dress, which is made of handwoven songket from South Sumatra. “It’ll be very elegant,” Dian said.

Yet for Dian, her appearance at Cannes is about more than just looking good and scoring publicity.

“I see it as an opportunity to learn and expand my knowledge and experience in the film industry,” she said. “Hopefully, I can use [both] to contribute to the Indonesian film industry.”

“Indonesia looks like it has hit the sweet spot, whereas India is nursing a headache from its latest boom,” says Frederic Neumann, Co-Head of Asian Economic Research at HSBC.

While the two economies aren’t similar in terms of size, with India’s population of 1.2 billion and Indonesia’s at 240 million, the countries share many similarities, leading to comparisons. Both have a burgeoning consumer base and are democracies with an investment grade rating.

India’s economy has hit a rough spot with the slowest pace of growth in three years with the government unable to deliver on economic reforms. On the other hand, Indonesia has won favor with investors over the past few years.

That’s leading Neumann and others to call for Indonesia to be included in the lineup of top global emerging markets. “The term BRICs really misses out on some of the key developments of our time. Indonesia has solid public finances, strong growth, a burgeoning consumer market, and plenty of resources to keep the economy afloat for many years,“ says Neumann.

On the other hand, India, according to Goldman Sachs’ Jim O’Neill, the man who coined the term in 2001, is the BRIC that has disappointed. Late last year O’Neill said that India’s poor record on productivity, foreign direct investment (FDI) and policy reform had made it the most disappointing among the four biggest developing economies – Brazil, Russia, India and China.

For example, India’s fiscal deficit target of 5.1 percent is wider than those of its BRIC peers. Its forecast deficit is more than four times Brazil’s estimated 2012 budget gap of 1.2 percent of output.

“It is difficult to see how India can turn around in the short term. It could in the next couple of years, but that is an eternity from investors’ point of view, ” says Neumann.

He adds that investors have already voted with their feet taking money out of India. The latest evidence of this was in the month of April when offshore investors withdrew some $403 million out of Indian equities and bonds, according to Reuters data.

While it is difficult to estimate how much of India’s loss has been Indonesia’s gain, market watchers say many investors have been increasingly looking at Indonesia as an alternative to India.

“To a large extent investor interest has moved to Indonesia,” Robert Prior-Wandesford, Director, Asian Economics at Credit Suisse told CNBC. “Indonesia’s equity market is hugely better than that of India and in part at the cost of India.”

While the Bombay Stock Exchange’s Sensex was the worst performing major global index in 2011 falling almost 25 percent, the Jakarta Composite Index[.JKSE  3945.68    -99.97  (-2.47%)   ]gained over three percent.

Besides delivering better returns, Indonesia is also catching up with India when it comes to economic growth. India’s gross domestic product (GDP) is expected to expand at just under 7 percent in the current fiscal year, which began April 1, while Indonesia is expected to deliver 6 to 7 percent growth over the next couple of years, say analysts.

Even on trade, Indonesia scores over India. According to brokerage CLSA’s latest forecast Indonesia’s current account deficit in 2012 will be just 0.8 percent of GDP, while India’s will come in at around 3.9 percent.

Rajeev Malik, Senior Economist at CLSA, says in Indonesia’s case, net Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) will offset the current account deficit. In India’s case, he points out, an estimated net FDI inflow of $15-20 billion will be well short of the current account deficit.

“They are doing better although they are not as big an economy as India,” he says.

Credit Suisse’s Wandesford says Indonesia reminds him of India three to four years ago, when there was a huge euphoria over the growth opportunity it offered foreign investors and companies. “In 2005-2008 India could do no wrong, now it is Indonesia.”

India, which was awarded an investment grade rating by Standard and Poor’s in 2007 is now under threat of losing it, with the ratings agency last month downgrading its credit outlook to negative. By contrast, both Fitch and Moody’s upgraded Indonesia to investment grade in December and January, respectively.

Size Matters

But despite the growing pessimism around India, most experts feel that it is not time yet to write off a country of a billion-plus people, if on nothing else than its sheer size.

Some argue that while there is a case for Indonesia to join the BRICs, it shouldn’t be at the cost of India as they both have different comparative advantages. While one is a commodity economy, the other is a services oriented one and an investor, for example, can’t completely replicate his menu of Indian stocks in Indonesia, say analysts.

“BRIC investors have a 20-year horizon and India will finally deliver in the long term,” says Neumann.

By CNBC’s Gauri Bhatia

The data compiled via the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) survey announced by Director of Regional Cooperation of Investment Coordination Board (BKPM) Rizar Indomo Nazaroeddin.

In the survey conducted on 193 countries through out the period 2009-2012, Indonesia remains at no. 9, whereas Vietnam advances from no. 11 in the period 2009-2011 to no.8 in the period 2010-2012. Mexico jumps from no. 12 to no. 6, while China consistently maintains no. 1 position in the two consecutive periods.

Although Indonesia’s position is stagnant, for the period 2010-2012, it manages to beat Germany, Thailand, Australia, Japan, and Malaysia. Its position is further strengthened by investment grades embedded by other institutions in the survey.

According to Deputy Governor of Bank Indonesia Muliaman Hadad, Indonesia’s continued economic growth opens door for the country to develop further.

NUR ALFIYAH

(Source: Tempo Interaktif)

Ketika bencana tsunami terjadi di Aceh, dunia terkejut karena besarnya bencana itu menyebabkan ratusan ribu orang Aceh meninggal dunia, dan bencana itu pula menerjang wilayah yang lebih luas dari Aceh, Thailand, Srilangka sampai Madagaskar di Afrika. Dunia juga kemudian bersimpati dan “bangga” dengan gambar-gambar tentara negara-negara sahabat yang ikut terlibat dalam operasi kemanusiaan di Aceh itu menggendong bayi atau anak kecil atau orang tua. Media dunia terutama dari negara-negara barat seakan-akan “bersatu” memuat gambar yang menyentuh kalbu itu. Sayangnya media Indonesia tidak ada yang bersatu atau “ngeh” untuk memuat gambar pasukan TNI kita yang juga melakukan operasi kemanusiaan yang sama.

Kejadian seperti itu berulang lagi pada saat musibah jatuhnya pesawat Rusia Shukoi Superjet 100 di Gunung Salak Bogor. Serpihan pesawat dan potongan tubuh korban berada di lereng gunung yang kemiringannya hampir 90 derajat dan berada di dasar jurang yang dalam. Tapi sangat mengagumkan pasukan TNI baik dari Kopassus, Marinir, Paskhas, dan Brimob dari kepolisian, tim SAR dari Basarnas serta para mahasiswa pencinta alam dan penduduk lokal berhasil mencapai daerah yang sulit di jangkau itu. Tim Rusia pun yang akhirnya ikut rombongan SAR ternyata mengakui sulitnya medan Gunung Salak dan malahan ada yang minta turun lagi ke daerah yang lebih datar.

Yang mengagumkan dan membanggakan lagi adalah tim kecil dari Kopassus yang ditugaskan untuk mencari black box di dasar jurang, dan akhirnya menembukan ELT atau Emergency Locator Transmitter. Ada informasi yang menyebutkan bahwa Tim ini diterjunkan dengan menggunakan tali, dan ketika mereka sampai di tengah-tengah jurang, ternyata talinya tidak mencukupi panjangnya, lalu mereka lapor pada komandannya, dan komandan mengatakan akan mengirim tali tambahan tapi satu hari lagi datangnya. Bisa di bayangkan pasukan elit itu menunggu tambahan tali sambil bergelantungan di medan yang gelap dan membahayakan itu.

Kopassus memang tangguh dalam tugas-tugas seperti itu, mereka memang dilatih dengan keras dan ada pendapat yang mengatakan bahwa satu orang prajurit Kopassus itu sama dengan 5 prajurit regular. Dan yang membanggakan lagi adalah Kopassus ini disejajarkan dengan pasukan elit Inggris SAS dan pasukan inteligen Israel Mosad. Bahkan pasukan elite AS tidak termasuk pada masuk pada jajran ini karena dianggap terlalu mengandalkan teknologi. Sementara Kopassus itu memang dilatih secara individu dan tim kecil yang tangguh.

Kopassus Angkatan Darat dengan baret merah darahnya dibentuk pada bulan April 1952 dengan nama yang berganti ganti, dari RPKAD –Resimen Para Komando Angkatan Darat, lalu Kopasandha – Komando Pasukan Sandi Yudha dan sekarang Kopassus atau Komando Pasukan Khusus. Tugas negara banyak yang berhasil di embannya.

Memang pada jaman Suharto, nama Kopassus mencadi tercoreng karena kasus-kasus hak azasi manusia; namun sekarang sejalan dengan reformasi di tubuh Angkatan Darat, Kopassus mulai bangkit lagi dan negara-negara di dunia termasuk negara-negara tetangga termasuk Australia masih mengakui bahwa Kopassus adalah pasukan elit Angkatan Darat yang tangguh.

Terlepas dengan pro kontra soal keterlibatan Kopassus di berbagai kasus HAM, namun ketangguhan, ke profesionalitasannya, dalam operasi kemanusiaan bencana jatuhnya pesawat Shukoi superjet 100 harus diliput media nasional dengan proporsional, agar masyarakat Indonesia makin mencintai Tentaranya sendiri. Apresiasi yang tingggi dari seluruh anak negeri ini harus ditujukan kepada prajurit –prajurit penjaga ibu pertiwi ini. Siapa lagi kalau bukan kita.

Alumni University of London, Universitas Airlangga Surabaya, dan dosen STIE PERBANAS Surabaya.

North Korea looks to Singapore, Indonesia for economy boost (Credit: ABC)
North Korea’s ceremonial leader, Kim Yong Nam, visited the Southeast Asian nations this week in what’s being called a bid to build economic partnerships with the countries.

Mr Kim, the President of the Presidium of North Korea’s Parliament, spent two days in Singapore where he visited a food factory and an electronics manufacturer.

Observers say North Korea may have used the trip to learn how to develop a successful growth model that does not threaten Pyongyang’s political power structure.

Others say, Singapore offers an attractive model to North Korea for attracting direct foreign investment.

Presenter: Bill Bainbridge

Speaker: Professor Zhi Zhiqun, visiting Senior Research Fellow at Singapore’s East Asian Institute

ZHU: I think Mr Kim is here trying to break up the isolation and sanctions imposed by western powers, especially the United States and Japan. So he’s trying to reach out to form partnerships with other countries.

BAINBRIDGE: And is that working with Singapore, I mean what kind of history do Singapore and North Korea have in terms of their trade relationship?

ZHU: My understanding is that Singapore already has some investment in North Korea, so does Indonesia. And I have to say that many of these Southeast Asian nations are less ideological and less critical of North Korea. So from a pure business perspective I think they see North Korea as a new frontier for investing, so it’s a good opportunity for many countries in the region.

BAINBRIDGE: Why do you think that is that they’re less as you put it, ideological and critical of North Korea? Why don’t they go along with the UN approach, the US approach to isolate North Korea and punish it for its threatening positions on nuclear armament?

ZHU: That’s a good point, I think in general these countries also support UN resolutions and support western countries approach to North Korea. However I don’t think and they completely agree with specific policies. For example basically western powers, especially the United States their approach to North Korea is based on sanctions and isolation and I think this kind of approach lacks creativity and is really morally deficient, because what kind of objective can these policies achieve? Well it’s the poor North Korean people who are suffering, the North Korean ruling elites in Pyongyang are not going to be affected by such an approach. So I think many countries in the region perhaps think differently from the United States and other western powers. So they may wish to try a different approach.

BAINBRIDGE: So is there evidence then on the other hand that engagement with North Korea by Singapore and Indonesia and other countries is acutally promoting more openness from North Korea?

ZHU: I think so, for example Indonesia and North Korea recently signed an agreement to exchange news, photos, tv footage, earlier Associated Press already opened a bureau in Pyongyang. So I think there are signs, there are indications that North Korea is moving positively towards integrating itself with the international community. And also I learnt that for example previously visitors to North Korea cannot take photos and cannot carry cell phones with them, and more recently such restrictions have been eased. So there are positive signs from North Korea, so I think such a development needs to be encouraged.

BAINBRIDGE: So what some people are suggesting is that North Korea wants to learn from Singapore’s economic model. Why would Singapore be an appealing model to the North Koreans?

ZHU: Well you remember before Kim Jong-il died China invited Kim Jong-il to visit two towns like Shanghai, Shenzhen. I think Kim Jong-il was probably very impressed. However China is such a big country, I think smaller nations in Southeast Asia are perhaps more relevant, and I think perhaps North Korea feels that Singapore especially as one of the four tigers has much to offer to North Korea, unlike China which is a totally different situation. So I believe that Singapore serves as a good model for North Korea, especially in terms of attracting foreign investment.

BAINBRIDGE: And what about Indonesia. Kim Yong Nam is in Indonesia now, what do you think he’ll gain from that trip?

ZHU: Indonesia is a different story. Indonesia and North Korea actually have had good relations since the 1950s. I think they established relations in the early 1960s. Indonesia offers a different model because Indonesia is also a nation rich in resources. And North Korea is in the same situation, North Korea actually has a lot of minerals and other resources. I think they can make a lot of money by exporting these resources and Indonesia definitely has much to offer in this regard.

BAINBRIDGE: And so perhaps a closer model for North Korea would be Singapore?

ZHU: Well I would say both Indonesia and Singapore can offer something to North Korea. And of course especially in terms of growth and investment. Perhaps Singapore offers a better model, a better approach, but I think North Korea can really learn a lot from many of these countries in the region, and it can also learn from China, although it’s on a much larger scale. So by and large I believe that all these countries in the region need to encourage North Korea, to help North Korea to integrate into the regional economy and that’s the proper approach I believe. Personally I don’t like, I don’t think the sanctions and the isolation preferred by western powers will work.

RadioAustralia.net.au

But it seems Twitter and Pinterest users have different ideas. In a competition to find the country with the most spectacular scenery a rather unusual entry has come out on top… Latvia.

Corruption scandals and high inflation have added to India’s woes, which have seen growth slow to a three-year low while the fiscal deficit widened to 5.9 percent of GDP in the last financial year.

“India was sold on the promise of high growth which simply hasn’t panned out over the past four years,” said Gautam Prakash, founder of U.S. based hedge fund Monsoon Capital.

Foreign portfolio flows into Indian stocks have dropped 99 percent to just 5.17 billion rupees ($96.5 million) since a March budget that largely disappointed investors.

Among the most significant developments from the shift has been the direction in which money is headed – with a big chunk flowing to Jakarta and other Southeast Asian capitals.

Two provisions put forward in the budget to tax indirect investments and combat tax evasion were the last straw for some global mutual funds, prompting an acceleration of money leaving India.

While the provisions were later put on ice, the prospect that such a tax could be proposed in India was enough for some investors to send their Asia-allocated money further east.

“You’re seeing a situation where the ‘I’ in BRIC is being replaced by Indonesia,” said Tim Condon, head of research and strategy for Asia at ING.

LEFT OUT

An emerging market brochure distributed by Franklin Templeton last month had data on India missing from a world map. From a global leader in emerging market investing, led by omnipresent guru Mark Mobius, that omission was telling.

India exposure in Asia’s biggest equity fund, the $18 billion Templeton Asian Growth fund, dropped to 16 percent of its assets at the end of March from nearly 20 percent a year ago, while exposure to Association of Southeast Asian Nations countries rose to 35 percent from 31 percent during the period.

An ASEAN-focused equity fund launched by Daiwa Asset Management started with about $366 million in February and has since grown to manage about $430 million, while Fidelity Funds-ASEAN has seen a net inflow of nearly $250 million in the last year.

The bigger ASEAN markets do not necessarily offer a compelling case on valuation grounds.

“Generally we are more negative on India than we are positive on the alternatives, such as Indonesia and the Philippines where we feel the markets have perhaps run ahead of themselves,” said David Baran, co-founder of Tokyo-based hedge fund Symphony Financial Partners.

“However, the ASEAN alternatives do have more positives and less negatives than India and we think that foreign investment outflows from India into the ASEAN alternatives are highly likely to increase if anything.”

Indian shares trade at price to book value of 1.9 times, higher than 1.4 times for Asia Pacific shares as a whole but less than 3.1 times for Indonesia, 2.2 times for Thailand and 2.5 times for Philippines, according to data from Thomson Reuters StarMine.

The trend, nonetheless, is clear as money managers shift away from India, at least for the short-term, towards markets that offer the same favorable demographics and growth potential that had previously drawn investors to Delhi and Mumbai.

BETTING ON ASEAN

Funds from firms such as Aberdeen, Matthews and T.Rowe with mandates to bet in Asia invested a smaller percentage of their assets in India at the end of March compared with the year-ago period and more in Indonesia and other Southeast Asian countries than they did a year ago.

Part of the drop is due to a fall in the value of holdings, but fund flow data tracked by Lipper shows mutual fund clients are responding as well, giving more ammunition to funds betting on Southeast Asia and less to those investing in India.

Investors pulled out nearly $480 million from offshore India dedicated funds in April, increasing the 12-month cumulative net outflows to about $4.1 billion, according to data from Lipper.

By comparison, funds investing in Southeast Asia have seen net inflows of about $900 million in the year ending April.

The gap between the total assets under offshore India funds and that of Southeast Asia fell to a three-year low of about $13.5 billion in April, indicating investors were buying into a region that is home to nearly 600 million people.

Indonesia focused bond funds are in favor too, with eight such funds collecting a cumulative $355 million in the year ending April. HSBC Indonesia Bond Open received $200 million alone.

“We are definitely seeing more interest in ASEAN,” said Matt Pecot, head of Credit Suisse’s prime broking unit in the Asia Pacific.

Net exposure to India in Asia-focused hedge fund portfolios fell to 18.7 percent in April from 32.5 percent in January 2011, according to data compiled by Credit Suisse based on their client portfolios. The same measure for Indonesia surged to 51.8 percent in April from 24.7 percent in January 2011.

Net exposure refers to the difference between a hedge fund’s long positions and short positions. A higher net exposure means funds are expecting the stock market to rise.

BRIC HITS WALL

Ten years ago, Chairman of Goldman Sachs Asset Management Jim O’Neill, then the bank’s chief economist, combined the emerging market growth stories of Brazil, Russia, India and China to coin the famous “BRIC” moniker. O’Neill recently called India the “biggest disappointment” of the BRIC nations.

“India was a 9 to 10 percent growth economy when the BRICs were put together and now it’s slowing. Indonesia was a 4 to 5 percent growth economy and it’s moving in the other direction,” ING’s Condon said.

The top-three BRIC mutual funds by assets invested a smaller percentage of their assets into India at the end of March than they did a year back, according to data from Lipper. They are also underweight compared with their benchmark, meaning they do not expect India to contribute to portfolio outperformance.

Templeton BRIC fund had 11.7 percent of its assets in India, its lowest since June 2009.

“India is getting trapped in that high fiscal deficit, high current account deficit situation and there is no easy way out of that unless it takes the tough steps,” said Binay Chandgothia, portfolio manager at Principal Global Investors.

Indonesia and the Philippines, meanwhile, have neither current account nor significant budget deficits to worry about, although they do share some of India’s problems such as their own fuel and food subsidies, Symphony Financial Partners’ Baran said.

With combined GDP of $2 trillion, 10-member ASEAN is angling for foreign investment. Ranging from resource-rich Indonesia to impoverished Laos and financial centre Singapore, ASEAN is planning a union by 2015 to allow for free flow of goods, capital, services and labor.

“As far as stock prices go, foreigners own approximately 40 percent of the free float of the Indian market,” Baran said.

“It will not take much of an exodus for this to have a significant impact on the market and there are clearly plenty of alternatives in ASEAN.” ($1 = 53.5550 Indian rupees)

Reuters

(Additional reporting by Abhishek Vishnoi in MUMBAI; Editing by Michael Flaherty and Alex Richardson)

“If they buy the aircraft, we’ll discuss with local industry how they can participate,” says Ignacio Alonso, Airbus Military’s senior vice-president for commercial, strategy, and industrial relations in Asia. “It’s too soon to say how they could collaborate, but we are open to discussing collaboration.”

“The A400M fits their current and future needs very well, both for military and humanitarian relief,” he adds.

He was speaking after the conclusion of the A400M’s Asian debut tour in April. The trip saw aircraft MSN4 visit Malaysia, Indonesia, and Thailand. Malaysia is the first non-European nation to order the aircraft, with an order for four. During the Thailand visit, the Thai defence minister flew on the aircraft from Chiang Mai to Bangkok.

Alonso also provided more details about Indonesia’s nine aircraft C-295 purchase that was announced at the Singapore air show in February. The aircraft will be operated by the Indonesian air force and will be designated CN-295 in Indonesian service. The Indonesian government is still arranging for the financing of the aircraft and Alonso expects the first two to be delivered this year.

When it announced the CN-295 deal in February, Airbus Military said Dirgantara Indonesia will manufacture the tail empennage as well as the rear fuselage and fuselage panels. The final assembly line for the last two aircraft will be located in Indonesia and Dirgantara Indonesia will also establish a service centre.

www.flightglobal.com

Tulisan Dato’ Sri Mustopa Mohammed, Menteri Perdagangan dan Industri Malaysia di Jawa Pos tanggal 5 Mei 2012 berjudul “Permata di Luar Jakarta” sangat menarik untuk di simak. Dalam tulisan itu secara umum beliau mengungkapkan pengalaman yang mengesankan ketika beliau berkunjung ke Surabaya. Beliau menceritakan kekaguman beliau tentang kota Surabaya itu sendiri, tentang pertumbuhan ekonomi Jawa Timur 7,2% lebih tinggi dari pertumbuhan ekonomi nasional yang hanya 6,5%, volume ekonomi Jawa Timur yang mencapai US$ 120 milyar (atau sekitar Rp 1,000 trilliun), tentang pertemuan beliau dengan redaksi Jawa Pos, dengan Kadin Jatim serta dengan sekitar 100 pengusaha terkemuka Surabaya/Jawa Timur.

Beliau menjelaskan dalam akhir tulisan beliau bahwa lawatan beliau 36 jam ke Surabaya mengingatkan beliau betapa pentingnya pengusaha Malaysia menggarap potensi perniagaan di seluruh Indonesia. Beliau mengatakan: “Tatkala lobi-lobi hotel di Jakarta di penuhi pelabut bersut (berjas) dan tali leher (berdasi) dari Cina, India dan Amerika Serikat, pelabur Malaysia seharusnya melihat kepersekitaran (sekeliling), karena sememangnya “permata” yang sebenar ada di wilayah-wilayah di luar Jakarta.

Tulisan itu mengingatkan kita akan persepsi umum yang salah, bahwa ke majuan ekonomi itu hanya ada di ibu kota. Para investor hanya fokus pada Jakarta dan sekitarnya-karena dianggap bahwa daerah – daerah diluar Jakarta “is not sophisticated yet” atau belum maju, masih tertinggal atau backward. Saya sering menyebut hal ini dengan istilah “Capital Disease”. Semua orang yang berada di Ibu kota suatu negara di dunia ini menganggap bahwa dia “lebih baik” dari orang di luar ibu kota.

Tapi sekarang Indonesia sudah berubah dengan cepat. Otonomi daerah yang memberi peluang daerah mengatur urusannya sendiri, mengakibatkan beberapa daerah itu mengalami kemajuan yang cepat seperti contoh Surabaya dan Jawa Timur tadi. Gubernur Jatim Soekarwo sering menjelaskan besaran trade atau perdagangan Surabaya/Jatim dengan propinsi-propinsi di wilayah timur Indonesia bisa mencapai lebih dari Rp 200 trilliun. Propinsi lain juga mempunyai kekayaan yang melimpah, dari pertanian, perikanan, tambang, turisme dsb. Kelompok-kelompok menengah sudah tidak di dominasi Jakarta lagi, karena mereka menyebar di Nusantara ini.

Para investor luar negeri akhirnya menyadari bahwa peluang itu sekarang tidak terpusat di ibu kota dan sekitarnya saja. Kalu mereka lambat mengambil manfaat dari kemajuan daerah, maka para pesaingnya dengan cepat mengambilnya. Tidak heran kalau beberapa negara ASEAN dan Eropa ingin membuka secara resmi kantor perwakilannya (Konsulat) di daerah – seperti di Surabaya. Kita juga bisa menyaksikan setiap hari fakta bahwa ribuan orang dari daerah satu pergi ke daerah propinsi lain untuk membuka lapangan usaha baru. Misalkan banyak orang dari Jawa Timur, Jawa Tengah, maupun Jawa Barat berbondong-bondong ke Palu, Makassar, Manado, Palembang, Riau, Balikpapan dan sebagainya untuk berbisnis dari usaha kecil, menengah sampai besar.

Memang ada baiknya para pengusaha dari dalam negeri sendiri terutama di luar negeri, harus mulai melihat potensi ekonomi yang menakjubkan di daerah-daerah. Karena Indonesia bukan hanya Jakarta.

*) Alumni University of London, Universitas Airlangga Surabaya, dan Dosen STIE Perbanas Surabaya

Bank Indonesia also said investors would require separate licences for different services, such as taking deposits, setting up ATMs and opening branches. A green light on the closely watched deal, which highlights the eagerness of major institutions to expand in Indonesia, would give foreign firms more confidence to invest in an economy that posted 6.5 percent growth last year. “Indonesian banks are attractive because they are growing much faster than foreign banks,” said Harry Su, head of research at Jakarta-based brokerage Bahana securities.

“DBS’ current return on investment is around 10 percent, while Danamon’s is around 15 percent,” he said. The growth gap between Indonesia’s banking sector and Western institutions struggling to emerge from the downturn and debt crisis is expected to widen in decades to come, according to a report by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC). Indonesia’s banks are growing at a phenomenal rate, much faster than in Europe and the United States, the report said. Indonesia’s domestic banking assets are tipped to grow to US$5.1 trillion by 2050 from US$187 billion in 2009 — a 27-fold increase. Over the same period, US assets are expected to expand just three-fold to US$46.5 trillion.

“Indonesia’s banking sector is currently the best performer in Southeast Asia, especially in profitability,” said Iwan Wisaksana, an analyst at Fitch Ratings Indonesia. DBS’ bid for Danamon is in line with plans by Southeast Asia’s biggest bank to tap into emerging Asia, as it can no longer grow organically in Singapore where market penetration is already high, Su said. By contrast, only around half of Indonesians aged over 15 have bank accounts, authorities say, leaving an untapped market of around 60 million including many now joining the middle class and requiring financial services. “Look at penetration in Asia — Indonesia would be one of the lowest. Even countries like India that have low penetration are above 50 percent,” Standard & Poor’s analytical manager for emerging Asia, Geeta Chugh, told AFP.

International interest has been spurred by a number of factors including the lenient foreign ownership laws that were introduced to boost investment after the 1997-98 Asian financial crisis. The recent doldrums in the West have made buoyant regional economies like Indonesia’s even more attractive, and prompted investors to re-calculate the rewards against the risks posed by opaque legislation and widespread official corruption. Indonesian authorities say that investor confidence has also been boosted in recent months since ratings agencies Moody’s and Fitch bumped Indonesia to investment grade after long years of junk status. The DBS deal would be the largest bank acquisition in Indonesia’s history, but other foreign investors have also been making forays. Commonwealth Bank Australia announced last year it would almost double the number of branches in Indonesia from around 80 to 150 over the next few years. London-based HSBC, which began banking in

Indonesia in the late 19th century, acquired an 89 percent stake in local Bank Ekonomi Raharja in 2009, making it then the third-biggest foreign bank by assets in Indonesia. Smaller institutions like Bank Ina Perdana, Bank Mestika Dharma and Bank Maspion are all reportedly being eyed by investors who are awaiting a resolution on the ownership regulations. Opposition to the Danamon deal is an echo of a recent nationalist outburst over the mining industry, which prompted parliament to pass a law in February capping foreign ownership at 49 percent after 10 years of production. Suggestions that the ownership cap could also be tightened for banks have fuelled uncertainty over the sector’s regulatory environment, said PwC Indonesia’s technical adviser for banking Ashley Wood. A PwC survey of 100 executive bankers in Indonesia released last month showed that the regulatory environment was the top obstacle to growth in the banking sector. “The opportunities here are fantastic, but that comes with a cost,” Wood said.

AFP/ir

Air Asia Indonesia Starts Bali to Yogyakarta Service June 8, 2012

Jakarta Post reports that Air Asia Indonesia will launch a new flight service between Yogyakarta and Bal starting on June 8, 2012.

In Arizona, Heliae announced a capital raise of  $15 million in funding from international conglomerate Salim Group’s agribusiness company, PT PP London Sumatra Indonesia, through its wholly-owned subsidiary, Agri Investments.

This marks a total of close to $50 million in funding that Heliae has received since launching in 2008.  As a start-up venture spun out of Arizona State University with the support of Science Foundation of Arizona, Heliae’s mission is to develop and validate technology solutions for the commercial production of algae for a variety of potential uses including food & feed, fertilizer, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, and fuel.

This new round of investment will support tangible steps toward creating an international presence for Heliae’s technology by funding continued research and development at Heliae’s demonstration facility in Arizona, and taking steps toward operating an R&D center in Indonesia. The aim is for commercial production in 2014.

The Heliae story

You can forgive yourself if the Heliae story feels a little fuzzy. They have enough stealth in their approach to the mission to make a SEAL team proud.

Here are the key notes in the narrative. Spun out of Arizona State University in 2008 as a technology for the commercial production of kerosene from algae using technologies developed at ASU’s Laboratory for Algae Research & Biotechnology.

At the time, ASU entered into a $3 million R&D collaboration with Heliae Development  and Science Foundation Arizona to develop, produce and sell kerosene-based aviation fuel derived from algae. Heliae itself was a closely-held investment of members of the Mars family – they of chocolate, Doane Petcare, Wrigleys gum and Life Savers fame. Less known over in Planet Mars is the division known as Mars Fishcare, which supplies home aquarium and pond products, including Aquarium Pharmaceuticals.

Ah, hence the stealth – the Mars family is famous for it. It took decades before they allowed the first reporter into one of their factories to see a machine stamp the “M” on an M&M.

With the Mars family investment, the company tapped former BioFuel Energy COO Dan Simon as CEO and, unsurprisingly but critically, expanded the focus beyond fuels and into foods, feed and fertilizers. But it had not, by any means, abandoned fuels. Last year SkyNRG signed an MOU with Heliae to produce algae-based jet fuel, and at last year’s Paris Air Show, Heliae Development and Azmark Aero Systems announced a collaboration to develop and promote algal fuels in jet engines.

The technology’s raison d’être? Bringing the low-cost of open ponds systems to the high yields of the closed PBRs. The Heliae system, ultimately, is going to look something like a greenhouse, and is expected to be built out to a 160 acre-demonstration, with groundbreaking on its pilot plant scheduled for later this month in Arizona – and includes a patent-pending extraction process in its IP portfolio.

How do they get the capex and opex down?  For sure, it is stubbornly high costs that have plagued the crowded field of closed photobioreactor systems and prevented them from getting into the food and feed markets, much less the fuel pool.

Over at Heliae, a lot of answers lie behind the Great Wall of We’ll Let You Know Later that commonly guards most early-stage algal technologies. We do know that the Heliae solution is designed as a bolt-on solution for industrial CO2 emitters or nitrogenous waste sources – and their algal strains are reported to be producing at rates that are well above industry norms.

Heliae’s take

“The recognition and support of the Salim Group delivers a sense of validation to our work,” said Dan Simon, President and CEO of Heliae. “These additional funds will help us broaden our reach and allow us to build a presence in Southeast Asia. Of equal importance to Heliae is the strategic relationship we have developed with Salim’s team and alignment of both groups – we look forward to the large impact we’ll be able to make collectively.”

Frank Mars, co-Founder and Chairman of the Board for Heliae, stated, “I am personally pleased to welcome the Salim group into the Heliae family.  As one of the most prominent equatorial-based food businesses in Southeast Asia, their Chairman, Anthoni Salim, recognizes the need to develop new and sustainable sources of nutrition and agricultural inputs to support the region’s growing demands.”

Salim Group’s take

“Frank and I are of one mind on developing the solutions to address today’s issues with soil fertility, fresh water, growing demand for fish and animal feeds and ultimately sustainable fuel,” said Anthoni Salim. “Our two families are committed to impacting the world’s future in a positive way.  Both the large impact we see with algae and Heliae’s comprehensive approach to developing algae technology solutions formed our rationale for this strategic investment.”

The Digest’s Take

It’s been a while since there’s been a strategic investment in algal-based technologies of this size, so welcome it is on simply that level – good news for algal fans, everywhere.

But let’s focus on on three aspects that are especially interesting.

The Rock Star factor. Anthoni Salim is not all that well known in the US and Europe, but he’s Indonesia’s 5th wealthiest individual (net worth, reported by Forbes at $3.6 billion), and has multiple food, cement, real estate, banking, and mining public companies in his control. Over in Asia, his name is an established brand.

The Food Factor. Over the next few years, expect a fairly healthy number of algal companies to pivot to the feed and food sectors, en route to entering fuels. Solazyme, as it usually does, pointed the way in its collaboration with France’s Roquette. PetroAlgae recently rebranded itself Parabel and is headed in that direction.

Why? Feed and food, while smaller markets than fuels, offer vast gulfs of opportunity, and higher per-ton prices. More importantly, Asia is long capital and short feed. Especially fish feed – a hugely important sector for Asian countries on every level, facing declining yields from ocean harvesting, growing populations, and costs rising in fishmeal so fast enough to make an oil baron blush.

The Connection Factor. Connecting the Salim Group (owner of one of the largest integrated food companies in the world – IndoFoods, Agri Investments Pte Ltd., Lonsum and so on) and members of the Mars family, another one of the largest integrated food companies in the world – well, that’s worth tracking through just about any macro financial lens you’d like to look at it through, and the connection runs through Heliae.

Next steps for Heliae

Well, they obviously have to get the pilot plant up and running, move towards a demonstration at scale within something approaching the 2014-15 timelines, and prove that they can shake out the costs and keep the systems running. Tasks that have felled many a promising technology coming out of the lab – the vital conversion from science project to corporation.

Next, prove out the “Mikey likes it” test – that the algae works for the food and feed applications they have targeted. Sign the downstream distribution agreements — for a company that has Mars and Salim DNA, that should be a snap. Then go big, and as costs shake out further, tap into the fuel markets — especially should oil pass $150 a barrel as expected this decade.

Knocking tomorrow and the pay-back problem

Easier to write than do. One of the reasons that former presidential candidate Newt Gingrich derided President Obama as “President Algae” – critiquing the President’s focus on a long-term fix through transforming the feedstock mix, rather than relaxing environmental goals to relieve pressures in the here and now with more oil and gas drilling.

It’s easy to knock tomorrow – after all, by definition tomorrow’s not here yet, and fails the “if we don’t have it, there must be a good reason” test. Lots of things fail the straw man, “where are the gallons?” test.

Take five year old children, for example. Why invest public dollars in their moral or scholastic education, when you absolutely know, in five years, all you are going to have is a ten-year old that is going to require even more investment?

To raise kids, we have to take perplexing 25-year journeys through dark waters, with financial requirements and returns that would not, ahem, exactly thrill corporate executives seeking 20 percent IRRs and three-year payback.

But there are those in every generation who undertake the journey – understanding that part of the magic is in the journey itself – in the unexpected discoveries along the way. Parents are confident that, given the right applications of innovation, imagination and discipline, that the modern adult will appear. If only corporate parents could learn therefrom.

So too it is with advanced technology. And with Heliae, there go Mars and Salim, off on their journey. Two families with a track record of getting it done.

biofuelsdigest.com

Garuda Indonesia has called on the Indonesian government to fulfill its promise to develop the country’s airport infrastructure.

“If the government doesn’t build new airports, it’s going to be a challenge for us,” Garuda President Director Emirsyah Satar told delegates May 8 at the International Society of Transport Aircraft Trading (ISTAT) Asia conference in Singapore.

According to Satar, the development of new airports is one of the primary factors in the government’s plan to revive the county’s economy; however, he notes that “we still have to see if the execution is there.”

The country’s main airport, Jakarta Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, was built to handle 22 million passengers a year, but in 2011 51 million passengers passed through the airport, according to comments made by Indonesia’s director general of civil aviation, Herry Bhakti Gumay.

To accommodate this demand, the government has unveiled a plan to build Karawang International Airport, east of the capital city, with construction due to start in 2015 and to be completed in 2019. The new airport initially will support 20 million passengers a year but this will eventually grow to 70 million passengers, says Gumay. The existing airport also is due to be expanded, but it is unclear when construction work will get under way.

Meanwhile, Garuda is seeking financing for the Boeing 737-800s, 777-300ERs and Airbus A330s it has on order. “We’ve already done the financing for aircraft to be delivered through to the end of 2013, but are now looking for financing” for aircraft to be delivered in 2014 and 2015, says Satar, adding that requests for proposals for some of the A330s and 777s are coming. Garuda favors sale and leaseback agreements, says Satar.

http://www.aviationweek.com

Penghargaan tersebut  mendapat perhatian juri dari segi pelestariannya, pengembangan, popularitasnya di dalam dan luar negeri, dampak eksternalnya bagi masyarakat sekitar serta keunikan tariannya yang memadukan seni tradisional dan modern.

Penghargaan PATA Gold Award 2012 itu merupakan penghargaan PATA Award yang diterima pihaknya untuk ketiga kali, yang pertama di Selandia Baru pada 1994 dan kedua di Beijing, China, pada 2011.

Cerita Sendratari Ramayana merujuk pada relief Epos Ramayana yang terukir dalam bentuk tiga dimensi terpahat di batu candi Prambanan yang dibangun pada abad ke-9 dan telah diakui sebagai Unesco world culture heritage list Indonesia.

Pentas Sendratari Ramayana tersebut pertama kali dilaksanakan di panggung terbuka sebelah selatan Candi Prambanan atas gagasan Letjen TNI (purn) GPH Djati Kusumo untuk menjadi daya tarik wisatawan waktu itu.

Kini  sendratari Ramayana yang dipentaskan di panggung terbuka berlatar belakang Candi Prambanan tiap Selasa, Kamis, Sabtu, dan Minggu atau seminggu penuh di kala bulan purnama itu semakin banyak mendulang penonton.

Sepanjang 2011 sekitar 75 ribu pengunjung menonton sendratari ini, meningkat dibanding tahun-tahun sebelumnya yang sekitar 50 ribu, meski kebanyakan anak-anak sekolah domestik.

Take food worshiper Lamtiur Hasibuan, 27, as an example. She spends her weekends strolling around the capital enjoying her favourite restaurants, or sampling the food of new restaurants.

“If I don’t go to one of my favourite restaurants, I just pick a random area and see what kind of food is available there, anything from street vendors to a fancy restaurant,” Tiur said.

If she finds the food delicious, no matter how expensive, it is guaranteed she will return with friends.

“When it comes to culinary, the taste comes first, then the price. Hunting food in Jakarta is fun, you don’t know what kind of food you can find in the different areas of the city,” the pork meatball enthusiast said, adding that her favourite locations for food hunting are Kelapa Gading in North Jakarta and Kota in West Jakarta.

Tiur also said that because there were many options now available in Jakarta, she no longer had to travel abroad to satisfy her culinary interests.

Private employee Dwi Gunarwati, who also shares similar opinions with Tiur, said Jakarta was a great city for food lovers from all income brackets seeking to satisfy their hungry tummies.

Besides the many foreign franchise restaurants available, the emergence of local restaurant chains and ubiquitous food centres offering affordable hard-to-resist dishes has pleased food lovers, Dwi said.

“I can see there has been a massive development in the city’s culinary sector in the past few years. Well, that’s good. Food lovers can choose all kinds of meals depending on their taste, while at the same time giving a chance for local businesses to boom,” said Dwi, who loves sushi.

Jakarta Tourism Agency head Arie Budhiman said the rapid growth experienced by the food and beverage sector in the capital had made it one of the most promising sectors in tourism.

“The culinary sector has a lot of potential in Jakarta. It’s no longer about fulfilling the food needs of the people, but has also become a lifestyle for some,” he said.

Arie said the habit of many Jakartans to gather and hang out while enjoying the food offered at cafes’, restaurants or even at street-side food centres had in some way helped boost the city’s tax revenue.

Such habits have also driven the rapid growth of 24-hour convenience stores that provide food and beverages, such as 7-Eleven and Lawson.

According to Jakarta Tourism Agency, in 2011, there were a total of 3,497 food and beverage businesses in Jakarta; 2,738 of which were restaurants, 704 were bars and 55 food courts. The total number was an increase from 3,181 recorded in 2010.

The culinary sector contributed to half of the city’s tax revenue from tourism in 2011, totaling 1.01 trillion rupiah (US$109 million), up from 835 billion rupiah in 2010. The total tax revenue from tourism in 2011 was 2.17 trillion rupiah, according to the Jakarta Tax Office Agency.

However, Arie said, the culinary sector in Jakarta could develop further if some of the policies regarding food imports were loosened.

“Restaurants are real economic hives that can generate a huge amount of tax revenue. I don’t think it’s supposed to be burdened by tight taxation systems,” he said.

(The Jakarta Post)

Indonesia would also resume its plan of commencing air traffic to India this June, he said.

“Earlier, the target was to reach 25 billion USD by 2015. But the bilateral trade has already crossed 20 billion USD. So, on the advice of our President we revised it to USD 45 billion last month,” Ghalib, who arrived here on a week-long trip till April 26, said.

Indonesia is interested in electronics, telecom and textiles, and India in coal, rubber, timber, palm oil and wood products, he said.

Intending to improve relations with India, the southeast Asian archipelago would also start air traffic of the state owned airlines Garuda Airlines from June this year, he said.

“We have proposed to our government to fly Garuda Airlines flights from Jakarta to Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata. Traffic would start this June. However, the destinations in India are yet to be finalised,” the Ambassador said.

Attempting to facilitate further diplomatic relations between the countries, Indonesia has proposed to set up a Consulate office in Chennai, which is yet to be considered by the Centre.

“Chennai has a lot of potential in business terms and we don’t want to be left behind. We have made a proposal to open a Consulate here, next to the one we already have in Mumbai. The Centre will decide on that,” Ghalib said.

A business delegation from cities across India would visit the south-east Asian archipelago between May 7 and 13 this year on an official trip arranged by the Indonesian government to give a boost to bilateral trade, another official said.

Asked if Indonesian authorities approached Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa for any business initiatives, counsellor Leonard F Hutabarat said they were hitherto dealing with the business community and they were open for discussions if the state government was interested.

The Ambassador arrived here on a one week trip and would be in the city till April 26.

(The Times of India)