Rupiah's Strengthening Threatens National Furniture Industry

 

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 rupiah’s strengthening may threaten domestic furniture and handicraft industries, the Indonesian Furniture and Handicraft Producers Association (ASMINDO) warned, calling on the central bank to intervene in the money market.

"The rupiah’s strengthening from Rp10,000 to Rp8,600 per dollar has caused difficulties to furniture and handicraft exporters," ASMINDO Chief Ambar Tjahyono said here on Thursday.
The appreciation made Indonesian furniture and handicraft goods lose ground in the global market to similar products from rival countries and led to a glut of Chinese products to the domestic market, he said. To make profit, he stated domestic producers must raise their prices but this would cause international buyers to switch to other suppliers that offered lower prices.
He further expressed regret over the higher lending rate which currently reached more than 13 percent while interest on time deposits only stood at an average of 7 percent. "If this continues to happen only banks can do business," he said.
He said if the rupiah continued to strengthen to a level of Rp8,000 a dollar not only furniture and handicraft industries but also other industries relying on exports would collapse.
In addition, the rupiah’s strengthening would also threaten the target of furniture and handicraft exports which has been set at US$3 billion for 2011, he said. Ideally, the rupiah should trade at Rp9,500 a dollar in the money market, he said.

Kate Moss Poses Nude for Brazilian Vogue

Going for gold: Kate Moss poses nude for Mario Testino in the May issue of Brazilian Vogue magazine

She may be 37-years-old, but Kate Moss can clearly still do a smouldering magazine cover as well as a model half her age. And she's got the body to prove it.
The British model looks stunning as she poses nude for the May issue of Brazilian Vogue, wearing nothing but a pair of gold cuff bracelets, and showing off a pair of tiny tattoos above her derrière.
With her hair a shade of honey blonde and her eyes rimmed with black eyeliner, the sizzling [picture was taken by renowned photographer Mario Testino.
The photograph, along with inside images, were taken in the city of Sao Paolo to mark the magazine's 36th anniversary. Kate recently told Vogue U.K that she shot 60 pages for the magazine while in the South American country with her eight-year-old daughter Lila.
'It was a lot,' she told the magazine. 'I had Lila with me and I thought it would be more of a holiday.
'Mario usually finishes quite early, but not this time.'
The model is clearly still in demand for glossy magazine shoots, appearing on the covers of both Vogue Paris and Vogue Japan in May. It looks like it is going to be a busy few months for the model who is tying the knot with her boyfriend, Kills rocker Jamie Hince this summer.
The couple are said to be planning to wed on July 2 at an undisclosed location, but sources have claimed it will be near her £2million Cotswolds home.

Indonesia Needs to Tighten Control of Imported Fish

A worker unloads a fresh catch of tuna for export to the US and Japan at Muara Baru, Jakartas fish port on May 26, 2010. US Commerce Secretary Gary Locke witnesssed the signing of the Indonesia-US Ocean Exploration Partnership as he underscored shared US-Indonesia economic and environmental commitments during his visit at the port. Indonesia is one of the six countries within the massive marine-rich Coral Triangle together with, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, the Solomon Islands, and Timor-Leste threatened by illegal and unregulated fishing.

The government needs to tighten control of imported fish to prevent the entry into the domestic market of illegal fish, protect local consumers from bad quality and safeguard local fishermen from being flooded with similar kinds of fish they produce.
The need to tighten control imported fish was voiced by a non-governmental organization (NGO) following allegations that thousands of tons of illegal fish imports had been allowed to enter the domestic market which could threaten local consumers and brought in bad image on the country’s fish products.
"This will create bad image on maritime affairs and fisheries ministry (KKP) in the eyes of the public. It only shows the ministry’s inconsistency and creates bad impacts on the credibility of fisheries at home," Riza Damanik, secretary general of the People’s Coalition for Fishery Justice (Kiara), said.
The NGO has alleged that over 2,000 tons of illegal fish imports had been allowed entry into the domestic market which the government had denied. According to data from the fish quarantine and aquaculture quality control and safety agency this month, 12,060 tons or 245 containers of illegally imported fish were seized.
Of the 2011 total, 2,360 tons were allowed to enter into the domestic market, 4,172 tons or 152 containers were re-exported, and 2,399 tons were re-exported to the countries of origin.
"Even it only accounts for 16 percent, the volumes of illegal fish imports allowed to enter the domestic market will have serious impacts on the domestic fishery industry," Riza Damanik said.
He said that the illegal fish imports must be detained because they had bad quality and contained high metal, water and formaldehyde contents. After all, they were not equipped with the required import documents. The imported fish has the same kinds of fish produced by fisherman in Indonesia.
No matter how much the volumes of fish whose imports are allowed by the government, any imports of fish which involved these reasons must be detained and re-exported because the quality of the fish could not be guaranteed for domestic consumers, according to Riza.
Therefore, Kiara stressed the importance of four points in the handling of fish imports. The government must be consistent with the maritime affairs and fisheries ministry’s Regulation No. 17/2010 on aquaculture quality control and safety which stipulates that the imports must be returned three days at the latest, or be destroyed.
Fish import regulations should also include an import ban on fish which has the same kind of that produced by local fishermen and the government should help reduce fish production cost and provide traditional fishermen with incentives.
"No less important is that the government should provide education for the Indonesian people to consume healthy fish caught by traditional fishermen from the Indonesian waters," Riza said.
Therefore, according to Kiara program coordinator Abdul Halim the government should tighten control of the import of fish whose kind is similar to that produced by Indonesian fishermen and whose quality is bad with excessive water and formaldehyde contents. He said however that there was no guarantee that illegal fish imports would not circulate in the domestic market.
After all, he has alleged that the maritime affairs and fisheries ministry had been inconsistent in dealing with illegal fish imports as thousands of tons of illegally imported fish were still pouring into the domestic market. The ministry’s organization management system has caused domestic fish consumers to face quality and safety uncertainty of fish products available in the market, he said.
Letting 2,360 tons to go into the domestic market is a bad precedence for legal enforcement efforts, according to Abdul Halim added. "The problem is that certain fish suppliers have been accused of receiving and processing fish collected from illegal practices. If we allow it to continue, Indonesia will be seen as illegal fish producer internationally, and of course we don’t want that," he stated.
On the allegation of letting illegal fish imports into the market, the KKP ministry has denied it. "It is not true if the KKP ministry is accused of having allowed illegal fish imports into the market," Yulistyo Mudho, head of KKP’s Statistics and Information Center said on Tuesday.
He said that the KKP ministry had consistently rejected the entry into Indonesia of illegal fish imports and would re-export any of illegal fish imports. He stated that re-export of illegal fish imports had been done in a number of ports such as Tanjung Periok port in Jakarta and Belawan port in Medan, North Sumatra.
The re-export steps were taken as an implementation of the Ministerial Regulation No. 17 / 2010. The KKP ministry recorded that up to April 5, 2011, it had rejected at least 245 containers and 423 boxes of fishery products imported into Indonesia.
"The allegations that illegal imported fish has been circulating in the domestic market after the KKP has allowed it, are not true," Yulistyo said.

BMW 3-Series GT

A computer-generated image of what BMWs new 3-Series GT may look like.

Now the real deal has been caught by our spy photographers in Europe. The new car continues BMW's push into new segments with a focus on crossover vehicles.

It will sit alongside the 5-Series GT as an alternative to the X1 and X3 SUVs. Not surprisingly the 3-Series GT looks like a smaller version of the 5-Series GT, sporting a higher ride height, short overhangs and hatch-style rear end.
The larger rear end is believed to accommodate space for the sliding rear-seat arrangement from the bigger model to provide the option of more legroom for rear-seat passengers.
The GT is believed to be sitting on a modified version of the 3-Series wagon's underpinnings. Unlike the rest of the 3-Series range, the GT will be available with the company's xDrive all-wheel-drive system or rear-wheel-drive only.

How Indonesia Could Lose Its Pride

The immediate rescuing of 20 Indonesian nationals held hostage by Somali pirates is a matter of national pride, a legislator said.
"I urge the National Defense Forces (TNI) special force to immediately take action to set free the MV Sinar Kudus’ crew who are being held hostage by Somali pirates," House of Representatives (DPR)’s Commission I member Fayakhun Andriadi of the Golkar faction said here on Monday.
The ship with a cargo of ferronickel belonging to state mining company PT Aneka Tambang was on its way from Indonesia to Rotterdam, the Netherlands, when it was pirated by Somali gunmen. Freeing the ship’s crew was a matter of national urgency and pride, Fayakhun said.
"We still remember the TNI’s Special Force’s success in freeing the hostges aboard the "Woyla’ in Bangkok, Thailand, and thus its image is respected and revered in the world," Fayakhun said.
Therefore, Fayakhun urged the TNI’s Special Force to move quickly to set free the Indonesian citizens now held captive by Somali pirates. He also wondered why the government had not responded positively to the hostage taking drama involving 20 Indonesian sailors on the MV Sinar Kudus which happened almost a month ago.

Google's Fare Search to Take off

Google's entry into the online travel sector was cleared for takeoff on Friday as the US Justice Department gave the green light to its $US700 million purchase of flight data company ITA Software.
The Justice Department's anti-trust division, however, extracted a number of concessions from Google and imposed conditions on the Internet search giant to allow the controversial acquisition to go ahead.
The proposed legal settlement, which will need the approval of a US District Court, requires Google to notably develop and license ITA's travel software to other companies.
Several online travel sites, including Expedia, Kayak and Travelocity, had sought to block the Google-ITA deal, claiming it would give Google too much control over the lucrative online travel market and lead to higher prices.
The Justice Department agreed that unless modified, the acquisition "would have substantially lessened competition among providers of comparative flight search websites in the United States."
But US deputy assistant attorney general Joseph Wayland said the proposed settlement "promotes robust competition for airfare websites by ensuring those websites will continue to have access to ITA's pricing and shopping software.
"(It) assures that airfare comparison and booking websites will be able to compete effectively, providing benefits to consumers," Wayland said.
ITA, a 500-person firm founded in 1996 by Massachusetts Institute of Technology computer scientists, specializes in organizing airline data, including flight times, availability and prices.
ITA flight data software is used by many US airlines and a number of leading online travel sites, including Expedia's Hotwire and TripAdvisor, Kayak, Orbitz and Microsoft's Bing search engine.
Under the settlement, Google agreed to let ITA customers extend their contracts into 2016 and to let new customers license ITA's QPX software on "fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory terms" into 2016. Google also must offer ITA's next generation InstaSearch product to the sites.
Google is also barred from entering into agreements with airlines that would restrct sharing of seat and booking class information with its competitors. In addition, Google will be required to build a "firewall" that will prevent it from gaining access to competitors' proprietary software which runs on ITA servers.
Google senior vice president Jeff Huber welcomed the approval of the deal and said "by combining ITA's expertise with Google's technology we'll be able to develop exciting new flight search tools for all our users." FairSearch.org, a coalition of opponents of the acquisition which includes Google rival Microsoft, welcomed the conditions imposed on Google.
"By putting in place strong, ongoing oversight and enforcement tools, the department has ensured that consumers will continue to benefit from vibrant competition and innovation in travel search," FairSearch.org said.
Another group, Consumer Watchdog, expressed concern that even with the conditions on the deal, Google will "ultimately win control of the travel search industry, driving ticket prices up for consumers."
Google has said the ITA acquisition will help it create new tools that will make it easier for consumers to search for travel, compare flight options and prices and drive more customers to online travel agencies. Google has said it has no plans to sell airline tickets or set airfare prices.
Google has drawn increasing government scrutiny as it has grown from a scrappy startup into the dominant player in Internet search and the ITA settlement marks the first time it will be subject to anti-trust supervision.
The US Federal Trade Commission reached a settlement with Google last week over Google Buzz, the social networking tool rolled out last year which spawned a slew of privacy complaints.
Under the settlement announced by the US regulator, Google is required to implement a comprehensive privacy program and will be subject to independent privacy audits every two years for the next 20 years.
Last month, a US judge dealt a setback to Google's plans for a vast digital library and online bookstore, rejecting a copyright settlement hammered out by the Internet giant with authors and publishers.

Converting Ferrari 360 into A Limousine

Luxury limo: The owner of this Ferrari F360 couple spent 200,000 converting it into a limousine




If you thought hiring a limousine to celebrate that special occasion was a little 1990s, here's one motorist who has stretched the concept that little bit further.

This exclusive Ferrari 360 Coupe has been converted into a luxury limousine after six months of reconstruction.
Costing from around £120,000 new, the owner of the vehicle spent £200,000 converting his pride and joy using genuine Ferrari parts. Extra reinforcing had to be used to sustain the weight of the vehicle and the power of the car's 400 BHP engine.
But the Ferrari, based in London, can't quite match up to its original speed due to the extra weight it is now carrying.

Collective Egoism of Indonesian House

The House of Representatives (DPR) needs to reconsider its plan to build a Rp1.1 trillion office tower in response to a storm of protests against the plan, a political observer said.
"This is necessary because of many objections to the plan to build a new House of Representatives (DPR) building. What is more, the building will be very costly," Arie Sujito of Yogyakarta-based Gadjah Mada University (UGM) said here on Sunday.
If the House pushed through the plan it would mean that the House ignored public aspirations and lacked sensitivity to the condition of the people. Consequently, the people’s confidence in the parliament would decline, he said.
"The DPR is now under the spotlight. The decision to push through the plan to build a new tower implies that the vast majority of DPR members care only about themselves at the expense of the people’s interests," he said.
He stated the construction of a new tower would have no significant impact on the performance of DPR members. The small office of DPR members should not be made an excuse for their lackluster performance.
"What is more, the construction of office rooms for the DPR members will cost Rp800 million each. Some quarters have questioned the higher amount of funds," he said.
The decision to go ahead with the project implied that most of DPR members had been infected by collective egoism. "DPR is considered egoistic because they have paid no attention to the aspirations of the people opposing the plan to build a new tower," he said.

Fear of Shootings at Freeport

The body of a security guard who worked for Indonesias Freeport-McMoran Copper and Gold Incs gold mine who was killed by gunmen on Thursday arrives in Timika in Papua province April 9, 2011. Hundreds of workers went on strike after a series of deadly attacks, refusing to return to work unless Freeport management and local authorities guaranteed the safety of all employees.

The regency administration authorities of Mimika, Papua, said they were shocked by the shootings at PT Freeport Indonesia employees in which two security officers, Daniel Mansawan and Hari Siregar, were killed.

Mimika deputy regent H Abdul Muis said here Sunday the government authorities and people of Mimika expressed their deep condolences for the families and relatives of the victims.
"We are deeply concerned about what had happened. And we are ready to facilitate a meeting of all the relevant sides in solving the problem, because the employees who were killed are also our brothers," Muis said.
Muis said that the terror shootings in the area of PT Freeport Indonesia although the firing took place far from the mining complex the incidents indicated that security in Mimika especially near the gold, copper and silver mines were still insecure.
To uncover the shooting terror of Freeport employees, on Saturday afternoon a ten-member forensic laboratory team arrived at Timika from Makassar.
Mimika deputy police chief Police Commissioner Mada Indra Laksanta said the team included ballistic and fire experts. With assistance of Papua police and Mimika police resort, the forensic lab team will conduct an investigation of the car used by Daniel Mansawan and Hari Siregar.
The car that was burnt on its way from Tanggul Timur to Nayaro village is now kept at the Mimika police station. Several bullet holes were found on the body of the car. In the meantime, the remains of Daniel and Hari had been laid in state Sunday as well as at the Freeport Indonesia office before their burial.