As many as seven Indonesian are among the list of richest people in the world in Forbes 2010.

The seven men are brothers of the Djarum tobacco company, Michael Hartono and Budi Hartono, who were in a 258th position with their respective wealth of 3.5 billion U.S. dollars. Apart from Djarum, their money machine is BCA. They both also mastered Grand Indonesia complex that stands at the former location of Hotel Indonesia.

Next in the 316th position is Martua Sitorus. The owner of Wilmar International has a wealth of 3 billion U.S. dollars. Martua itself now living in Singapore. After that there was Peter Sondakh who has a wealth 2.2 billion U.S. dollars. The owner of Rajawali Group is ranked 437th.

Then there Sukanto Tanoto is ranked 536th with a fortune of 1.9 billion U.S. dollars. Asian Agri boss is also currently living in Singapore.

After that Low Tuck Kwong was ranked 828. With coal companies Bayan Resources, the Singapore -born entrepreneur has a wealth of 1.2 billion U.S. dollars. And, the seventh Indonesian  into the list of the world’s richest person is the boss of the 2010 Chairul Tanjung Group with a wealth of 1 billion U.S. dollars, ranked 937th.

Title of the richest man 2010 was snagged by a Mexican businessman, Carlos Slim Helu, who has a wealth of 53.3 billion U.S. dollars.

Helu moved founder of Microsoft, Bill Gates, who dropped to second position with a net worth 53 U.S. dollars. Then the owner of Berkshire Hathaway, Warren Buffet, who has a wealth of 47 billion U.S. dollars.

Here’s the list and details of it :

#258 : Michael Hartono. The details here.

#258 : R.Budi Hartono. The details here.

#316 : Martua Sitorus. The details here.

#437 : Peter Sondakh. The details here.

#536 : Sukanto Tanoto. The details here.

#828 : Low Tuck Kwong. The details here.

#937 : Chairul Tanjung. The details here.

Source: Forbes.com

The signs for the consumer economy are still positive. The Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence index was at an all-time high of 124 points across the nation at year’s end, contrary to the drop indicated by Bank Indonesia in its big city indicator.

The Good Governance monitor continued to rate the SBY administration highly, but the thumbs-down from big-city-folk had already become visible by December. The Bank Century scandal has undoubtedly taken its toll, with the mood of the people adversely affected primarily in the big cities for now. But the contagion is spreading and could dampen buoyant spirits if the seemingly unending saga isn’t brought to a conclusion soon.

A walk through a home reveals a lot about the family that lives in it. A virtual look inside all the homes should say a lot about the country. Equally revealing are the intentions, the desires of Indonesian households. That is what this column will attempt to explore this week, because there’s never been a better time. For three consecutive quarters more people believed now is “a good time to buy major appliances”, with 36 percent agreeing at year’s end.

87 percent of Indonesians live in homes owned, not rented, by the family. By international standards, that is a big number. Two reasons explain the phenomenon. First, most homes are inherited, handed down from generation to generation. Second, a number of generations live together as an extended family, under the same roof. Only 3.5 percent of homes have a car parked outside. This number is growing, but very slowly. What is growing steadily is the population of motorcycles, with 60 percent of households proudly owning at least one today.

Inside the home, domestic appliances help make life easier. The consumer electronics industry had a good year in 2009 and expects a much better year in 2010. In that sense, life should be getting better for a lot more people and not only those replacing ageing gadgets. Today, nine out of 10 homes have a TV set. In the next 12 months, 2.5 million people are planning to buy a new one but most of them will be replacements or additions. Refrigerators are on top of the nation’s shopping list.

While only 38 per cent of homes have one today, some 8 million people are planning to buy one.

Washing machines are a similar story. Only 10 percent of homes have one, but ranks as No. 2 on the wish-list with 7.6 million intenders. The international favourite, the humble toast, is neither popular today nor about to become a best-seller. Only 7 percent of households own one, less than 800,000 Indonesians are planning to buy one.

The microwave oven also personifies growing middle-class aspirations. Some 600,000 women are planning to add one to the kitchen this year. While nine out of 10 homes have an electric iron today, the replacement market remains strong with about 700,000 homes looking at another one. Ovens and dishwashers remain upper-class conveniences, each garnering only 200,000 intenders nationwide.

Less than 100,000 people want a new coffee-maker, or a telephone answering machine.

In the home entertainment arena, the country’s affluent homes are reflections of a global phenomenon. Plasma or LCD screens and accompanying surround systems have jumped in popularity, with some 2 million people eyeing a new system. A similar number are hoping to add a personal computer to the home. Almost a million are thinking of a new digital video camera. Over 800,000 have been thinking of a new portable music system like an MP3 or MP4, and 500,000 are keen on an iPod in particular. But it’s not just the passive seekers of entertainment who are grwoing in numbers. Almost a million people are planning to buy an electrical musical instrument, like a guitar or keyboards.

Material possesions are not the only reflections of a home. Gender differences reflect an interesting facet of life in Indonesia. 70 percent of women and only 30 percent of men “enjoy grocery shopping”.

83 percent of women “love to cook”, a pleasure shared by only 17 percent of men. Six out of 10 women and two out of five men “can’t relax till I know the house is clean and tidy”. About half of all men and women and women have “worked in the garden” in the last month, a number that will surprise many a reader.

On the one hand, this report pays little attention to the everyday struggle of millions of poor Indonesians living with very little joy, either material or emotional. On the other, it does not address the role consumer credit can play in boosting the consumption of goods and services
that forms the backbone of Indonesia’s economy. To do those updates real justice, they are best left for another day.

These conclusions are based on Roy Morgan Single Source, a syndicated survey with over 24,000 Indonesians 14 years and older interviewed each year. The information gathered is projected to reflect over 85 percent of Indonesia’s population 14 years and older.

Source: The Jakarta Post

Thailand are ‘battling’ other countries in ASEAN to attract foreign investment, which has been proven as the vein of its vibrant and blossoming economy for years. However, due to some political events that troubled the ruling administration, many investor are now in wait-and-see mode. However, once all settled, Thailand would be as gigantic as before. While Indonesia, has been enjoying political stability, investors confidence, and progressive growth of economy, and investment. All positive parameters are up for Indonesia.

I found an interesting article from the Nation, an english newspaper in Thailand, about how he relates Indonesia and Thailand. Enjoy

Akhyari – GNFI
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WHERE ON EARTH does the mere mention of the name “Bangkok” bring a breath of fresh air or a smiling face? Again, which country has a common history with Thailand that dates back thousands of years? Can you name a country that can be a democratic force for Asean along with Thailand?

The answers are simple. It is Indonesia – a country under the global microscope at every turn. This is a country where the Thai energiser drink, Krathing Daeng (Red Gaurs), has made hundreds of millions of dollars since its introduction in 1980’s. Thai flagrant rice, tom yam, durian and varieties of Thai fruits delight Indonesian palates everyday. To average folks there, “Bangkok” conjures up good quality, good food and freedom.

Within Asean, Indonesian people are the friendliest towards Thailand. They look up to the Thais as resourceful and fun-loving people. Our democratic experiences, both in the 1970’s and then the 1990’s, inspired the Indonesian young for generations when the country was under the Suharto dictatorship. Prior to 2001, Thailand was the textbook for political experiment and freedom of expression for Indonesian intellectuals, lawmakers, politicians and media. Now the tide has turned. They have learned the Thai lessons well, avoiding the pitfalls of Thailand’s 78-year political wilderness.

The country’s huge territorial size and Muslim population, as well as its economic dynamics and resource-rich archipelagos used to be identifiable qualities of the world’s fourth largest country. What has made the greatest impact on Indonesia these days has been its nascent but stable democratisation since 1998. Indonesia is no longer the turtle – the slowest mover or denominator of every scheme in the region. Its vibrant democracy, steady economic growth and increased confidence have attracted visits by dignitaries from around the world. Indonesia is proud of its branding as the world’s third largest democracy, after India and US.

Yesterday, the two countries quietly commemorated the 60th anniversary of their diplomatic relations. Obviously, the general public of the two nations are not deeply aware of this important event. In Thailand, the focus remains on political stability. Down in Indonesia, the planned visit of US President Barack Obama and his family later this month has dominated the daily conversations ever since it was announced last year. Obama’s four-year elementary schooling in Menteng provides such a wonderful and powerful backdrop for the US return of re-engagement with Southeast Asia. What he says and does in Indonesia will be scrutinised and remembered for years to come.

Although current Thai-Indonesia friendship cannot match the kind attracted by the personality of Obama, we can however delve into the past for inspiration. King Chulalongkorn visited Indonesia – known to the Siamese at the time as Java, three times (1871, 1896 and 1901) throughout his reign, bringing back all the best Indonesian culture had to offer: language and literature. His first trip when he was young was the most impressive. He was eager to learn from the local people and their direct interaction with the Dutch colonisers. He did the same in Malaya which he visited nearly a dozen times for the British experience. King Prachathiprok made a similar trip in 1929. Only 10 years after the establishment of diplomatic ties, His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej and Her Majesty Queen Sirikit paid an official visit there.

Contacts among common peoples were also in abundance in the old days.

The people from Makassar, South Sulawesi, had long emigrated northward to Ayutthaya, one of the trading hubs of old Southeast Asia in the 17th Century. They later moved and resettled in central Bangkok, which is the present-day Makkasan. Many Thai and Indonesia words and names are similar because of their Sanskrit roots. For instance, mentri, duta, wanida and swami mean minister, ambassador, woman and husband respectively. Names such as Suriya, Chandra, Aditya, Sawitri, Tri and Dewi are popular in both countries.

Long-lasting cultural imprints, beginning with the Buddhist Borobudur monument in Magelang, Central Java, can be found in the tale of the legendary Javanese prince in “Panji” called Raden Inu or Ino, who was popularly known to Thais as I-Nao for more than three centuries. King Rama II recomposed this classic into beautiful Thai verse, which has been a key source of traditional Thai songs and dances. Both countries continue to learn and draw inspiration from Ramaya and Mahabharata. In the front yard at the entrance to the National Museum of Indonesia, one can see a bronze elephant given by King Rama V. The list goes on.

What is sad about all these old tales and ties, they have yet to propel the current bilateral efforts to the next level. They are close and correct certainly, but they should be much closer and more intimate. The volume of two-way trade last year was only around 900 million dollars and Thai investment in the past three decades amounted to two billion dollars only. Old mind-sets among Thai businessmen and investors were to blame. They still believed they could arrive with some investment and then make money and leave (as they used to do in Laos, Burma or Cambodia). To be fair, few Thai companies have left a good reputation for their long-term and sustainable investment plans that include uplifting of livelihoods of local people and the improvement of infrastructure and communication.

When Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya met with Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono recently, he told the president that Indonesia should be the driving force in the promotion of democracy in Asean. Indonesia’s national resilience as well as lessons learned from its young but dynamic political development could be emulated in the rest of the region. “Thailand will do whatever it can to support Indonesia’s endeavour,” he reiterated. Coming from Thailand, it demonstrated the growing political clout of Indonesia and its ability to build up democratic values and institutions in such a short time.

Within Asean, the two were known for their common stands – wanting the grouping to be more open, democratic and protect its citizens from any form of human rights violations.

Apart from joining forces in promoting democracy in Southeast Asia, perhaps the two countries could also combine their culinary traditions.

Already, at Blok M in the heart of Jakarta, local shoppers can order a new menu – durian nasi goring or durian fried rice – for 15,000 rupiahs. It tastes awfully delicious.

(Thanks to Counsellor Patranan Pattiya for early Thai-Indonesia history).

Source : The Nation

For Australia, Indonesia was always the dark zone of dread, where bad things happened with worse to come. This wasn’t entirely baseless. Soekarno’s communist demagoguery was real. The brutal repressiveness of Soeharto’s military dictatorship was no figment of the imagination. But when Soeharto’s regime fell and the Indonesian economy collapsed simultaneously in 1998, it seemed to be the worst-case scenario.

A new Indonesia, the child of chaos and violence, was supposed to arise. These were the dominant scenarios that Australian Indonesia-watchers sketched out, usually in private, sometimes in public.

The first fear was that without a strong man to hold it together, Indonesia would break up. It would Balkanise, creating a group of fractious, needy, or hostile new countries to our north.

Some Indonesians, watching Australia’s sponsorship of East Timor’s move to independence, suspected it was unstated policy to encourage a fragmentation. On the contrary. It was never Canberra’s policy, but it was one of Canberra’s paranoias.

That was the fear. The fact: under the President, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, universally known as SBY, the most virulent separatist movement, in Aceh, has been reconciled. The West Papuan independence movement is moribund. The country is unified and stable. East Timor was the only breakaway, and its sad stagnation has not inspired imitators.

The second big fear was that without a military dictator to repress fundamentalist Islam, Indonesia would turn radical.

Perhaps the Islamists would take control through the ballot box. Perhaps the Islamic extremists would revive the Darul Islam project to overthrow the government violently and impose fundamentalist sharia law. Either way, Indonesia would become a brooding presence, increasingly hostile to Western values and inimical to Australian interests.

The fact: as the Australian National University’s Greg Fealy wrote after last year’s legislative elections: “Despite the fact that almost 90 per cent of the electorate is Muslim, Islamic parties gained less than 30 per cent of the vote – their lowest figure over the three democratic elections held after the downfall of President Soeharto in 1998.”

This doesn’t mean Indonesians are abandoning Islam. There is a trend to increasing religious observance. A growing percentage are attending prayers, fasting during Ramadan, and using Islamic banks. Muslims pursue their religious beliefs as a personal, social and religious matter, not a political one. Voters demand better services from their government, not religious exhortation.

Other religions, including its Christian churches, are flourishing too. In the immediate post-Soeharto years, churches were firebombed in an effort to foment sectarian upheaval. In an interesting role reversal, it’s in next-door Malaysia that churches are under attack. In Indonesia, religious tolerance is practised and the secular state is increasingly entrenched.

A relapse into military dictatorship was the third scenario. A new-generation general would assert control. Perhaps he’d be provoked by an Islamist uprising, by the break-up of the nation, or by political disarray.

The fact: Indonesia today is led by a former general, but he was chosen by the people in a free election, not just once, but now for a second term. SBY is a model democrat.

The only generals who vie for power do so at the ballot box. They campaign for votes like other candidates do, often singing ballads at rallies to woo voters rather than ordering the troops to intimidate them.

Democracy is entrenched as the sole source of legitimacy. The media is one of the world’s most thrusting and free, and strong democratic institutions are increasingly solid. Corruption remains a serious problem, but the polity is struggling mightily to break its grip.

Neighbouring Thailand has relapsed into military coups. In Indonesia, the generals are in the barracks and no one in Jakarta speaks of coups any more.

Fourth was the fear that massive economic dislocation and political unrest would precipitate a torrent of Indonesian boat people. In a country of 230 million, it was often pointed out, you’d only need 1 per cent to head for the boats and Australia’s systems would be overwhelmed.

The fact: the economic and political upheaval came and went. The boat people? None came. Refugees from Afghanistan, Sri Lanka and other countries have, via Indonesia, but the Indonesians stayed home. They are pretty happy where they are.

Since the trauma of the Asian economic crisis in 1998, Indonesia’s economy has developed better than almost anyone could have imagined. In the crisis, one-seventh of the Indonesian economy evaporated, while interest rates shot up to 75 per cent. But its average for the past five years is 5 per cent a year, behind only China and India among the region’s economies.

The World Bank recently said Indonesia has a ”unique opportunity to rise as a dynamic, inclusive, middle-income country which can be both a leading sophisticated commodity economy like Australia [and] a hub of labour-intensive industry in Asia like China”.

The final fear was that Indonesia would be an impenetrable haven for terrorists, who would launch operations against Australia at will. Indonesia was so riddled with Islamist extremists, and the Indonesian state so weak and incompetent, Australia would have to live in a permanent state of terrorist siege.

The fact: there have been terrorist attacks against Australian citizens and interests, including the Bali bombing. The threat remains real. But the Indonesian authorities, in co-operation with Australian counterparts, have proved to be vigorous and highly effective counter-terrorists.

For all of these reasons, the Australian Parliament tomorrow recognises Indonesia’s emergence as a moderate, stable, peaceful, secular democracy, and it honours Yudhoyono as the pivot on which it has turned, when he addresses a joint sitting.

Peter Hartcher is the Sydney Morning Herald’s international editor.

Source: Sydney Morning Herald

Thanks Funeno for sharing the good news!

At the final weigh-in yesterday, Gurnani (nicknamed King David on the show) charted an astounding total weight loss of 83kg (he came into the competition weighing 157kg) and a body fat percentage loss of 53%.

“I am really happy. I am a competitive person by nature and I was willing to do whatever it took to win … even if I had to go to the extreme, it was worth it,” said Gurnani at a press conference held immediately after the event.

To prepare himself for the finale, the 25-year-old revealed that he took two months unpaid leave to work out eight to 10 hours a day.

As the winner, Gurnani walked away with US$100,000 (RM350,­000) and a car sponsored by Renault.

The Biggest Loser Asia closely follows the original American series of the same name. Participants live in isolation for three-odd months with no contact with family or friends.

They are divided into two teams (red and blue) and have to work out six hours a day and adhere to healthy meal plans.

At the end of each weekly episode, participants are weighed and the two with the lowest percentage of weight loss will be up for elimination.

Source: The Star Online

Many people commented how skinny and unhealthy David looked during the weigh-in. Dear David, congratulations on winning, you made Indonesia proud, but whatever you do, health comes first, you hear me!

Best of luck to you, guy. GNFI wishes you all the best.

“Development of nuclear power plants is quite feasible and strategic in this province to overcome the problem of electricity crisis,” he said in Pangkalpinang.

According to him, as the province of Bangka archipelago is geographically located in the middle it is possible to build nuclear power plants.

Certainly the construction of nuclear power plants are not short-term plans, but it is a long term process and requires in-depth study.

The construction of nuclear power plants are already using high and sophisticated technology, so it must go through scientific studies.

Before the construction, (the government)  would have to review the various aspects so that the plants do not harm the area and the community.

Development of nuclear power plants is not impossible given the supply of coal and oil will run out.

The government has provided two sites for the construction of nuclear power in South Bangka Island, Lepar and Nanduk Island.

The two islands’ area of 2407 hectares  are strategic enough as the nuclear power plants location since the two island are uninhabited.

According to him, the construction of nuclear power plants will help supply electricity Java-Sumatra and he believes the community supports the development of nuclear power plants in Bangka.

Meanwhile, former president BJ Habibie, the third president of  RI who had come to Bangka recently also considered that province of the archipelago fit into nuclear power plant construction site.

“After I heard Bangka Belitung-free areas of the earthquake, however, the establishment of nuclear power plants must go through a more in-depth research,” said BJ Habibie.