| By Andi Abdussalam |
Jakarta, Sept 30 (ANTARA) - The House of Representatives (DPR)'s Commission VII on energy affairs hoped that the government, based on an agreement reached in hearing recently, would not cancel its plan to increase the basic power rates by an average of 15 percent in January next year . However, the government is of the view that the agreement has not yet become a decision of the House because it was made at the House's commission level. So, the decision is not yet final and that a chance for the government to raise the basic power tariffs (TDL) is still open. The government has planned to increase the TDL in an effort to solve the problem of subsidized electricity. "We have thought since the beginning how to solve the electricity subsidy problem. If the tariffs are not increased there must be alternatives," Finance Minister Agus Martowardojo said on Wednesday. However, the House Commission said that the problem could be solved through an efficiency drive. Thus, the commission asked the government to support the efficiency drive of state-owned power firm PLN so that it would not need to raise its power rates in 2011. "The success of PLN in avoiding a power rate tariff increase will depend on its efficiency," Chairman of House's Commission VII on energy affairs Teuku Riefky Harsya said. He said that the decision taken by the government and Commission VII not to raise the basic power rates would depend on how far PLN carried out its efficiency programs. The House and the government during a hearing with Commission VII last week agreed not to raise the electricity tariffs in 2011, though it has planned to raise the TDL by an average of 15 percent next January. For that, PLN was asked to save Rp8.1 trillion on switching the use of fuels to gas, coal and other alternative energies. According to a senior energy government official, PLN will get a gas supply amounting to 100 million metric standard cubic feet per day (mmscfd) for its power plants in 2011. "The additional gas supply would be obtained from three locations, namely the Jabung field amounting to 30 mmscfd, Singa field 30 mmscfd and Jambi's Merang field with a volume of 40 mmscfd," Renewable Energy and Energy Conservation Director General Luluk Umiarso said at a hearing with the House Commission VII on energy affairs recently. Luluk said that with the additional gas supply PLN could reduce its fuel oil consumption. "PLN would be able to save on Rp2.53 trillion with the additional gas supply," he added. Commission VII chairman Teuku Riefky Harsya said that the government should carry out the decision not to raise the power rates, and that the gas supply to PLN should be supported. "We appreciate the PLN commitment and that the government should support the allocation of gas to PLN," Riefky said. He said that the decision taken by the government and the House might not be changed, even if at the deliberation of the House's Budgetary Agency. "We hope all sides would carry out this decision because the government and the House were not willing to put further burden on the people," he said. Meanwhile, Chief Economic Minister Hatta Rajasa said the decision to cancel the planned basic power rate increase was still a decision of a House commission. It has not yet become a decision of the House. "I received a report from the minister of energy and mineral resources that the decision was taken at the commission level of the House," the coordinating minister for economic affairs said. He said that the matter would still be taken for deliberation to the Budgetary Body of the House. It still has to be waited what it would decide about it. Hatta said that the decision to cancel the planned electricity tariff increase would become a House decision if it had been deliberated by the House plenary on the 2011 state budget. The government through the submission of the 2011 draft state budget, has earlier planned to raise the electricity tariff by an average of 15 percent. The chief economic minister said that he had held talks with PLN over the possibility of the cancellation of the plan. "We talked to PLN about the cost that could be saved if efficiency is carried out by the state electricity company," he said. If the tariff is not raised it would increase the amount subsidy. "If subsidy is not reduced while the power rates were not cut either, it then would require PLN to lower its basic production cost," he said. Reduction of production cost could be carried out through reducing the use of fuel oils. The government's insistence to raise the power rates was allegedly influenced by an external intervention, but it quickly denied the allegation. Finance Minister Agus Martowardojo said the government was not influenced by external intervention in its plan to raise the basic electricity tariffs (TDL). "It was said we want to increase the TDL rates because there is a multilateral agency which asks us to do so. This is not true but we want to expand our fiscal network without being regardless of the people who are in a difficult economic condition," the finance minister said here on Wednesday night. He said that the government had since the beginning sought for a solutions to the electricity subsidy with looking into various proposed alternatives, including raising the TDL rates. "We have thought since the beginning how to solve the electricity subsidy problem. If the tariffs are not increased there must be alternatives," the finance minister said. Earlier, World Bank senior economist for Indonesia Enrique Blanco Armas said that Indonesia was the second country to sell electricity at the lowest price, namely about 7 US dollar cents per Kwh, or lower than that of India which was 6 US dollar cents. Enrique Blance Armas was quoted as saying that the power rates for household consumers and industry in Indonesia were relatively low. The World Bank economist said that the government decision to increase the electricity rates by an average of 15 percent last July was a small step towards its goal of fixing the energy subsidy target. Enrique hoped that the government would therefore increase the power rates in stages so that the subsidy which had been provided so far could be switched to the infrastructure budget.***2*** |
Kamis, 30 September 2010
GOVT STILL PLANNING TO RAISE POWER RATES
Rabu, 29 September 2010
PEOPLE ASKED TO HELP END TARAKAN CLASHES
| By Andi Abdussalam |
Jakarta, Sept 29 (ANTARA) - The government has called on the people, including security officers, religious leaders, tribal community chiefs, government officials and the media to help calm down emotions and settle the communal clashes that have caused the death of at least five locals in Tarakan city, East Kalimantan. "I am saddened by the occurrence of the community violence in East Kalimantan. I have received a report from the police chief and communicated with the Indonesian Defense Forces (TNI) commander and with the East Kalimantan governor," President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said on Wednesday. The president therefore asked that the handling of the case should be carried out seriously to prevent a repetition of the incident that occurred in Sampit, Central Kalimantan, ten years ago, where Dayak natives and ethnic Madurese were involved in a conflict that claimed many lives. "I hope it will not happen again. The efforts made to handle the incident should be concerted, officers should make concrete efforts by getting down into the field," the president said. The president asked for concerted efforts by the central government, local government, the TNI and Police. He called on the local communities which were involved in the brawls to restrain. Apart from that the president also asked the media to help the government in settling the conflict by providing balanced reports and avoiding reports that could incite widespread escalations. Five people were reportedly killed in clashes between two groups of Tarakan (East Kalimantan) residents that began last Sunday night and continued until Wednesday morning. "Four were killed in the brawls that have been going on from last Sunday until early this Wednesday. So the death toll of the incident since it broke out on Sunday night has reached five," a police officer who refused to be named said here on Wednesday. According to several residents, the brawls had quickly spread to other parts of the city. On Tuesday morning, the clashes occurred in certain areas in Tarakan city. "At the beginning, the clash took place in a suburb, namely on Jalan Gajah Mada and Jalan Yos Sudarso. But this morning the fighting had spread to Selimut Dalam, closer the city center," Nanda, a resident of the Selimut Dalam area, said. One of the rival groups has since Tuesday morning also blocked access to the airport and Juwata seaport. East Kalimantan Governor Awang Faroek Ishak said the community clashes in Tarakan City were not related to rivals between two certain ethnic groups. "The residents' clashes were not related to conflict between certain ethnic groups. This is a pure crime," Governor Awang Faroek Ishak said at Samarinda airport when he was to fly to Tarakan Wednesday afternoon. He was flying to Tarakan together with the chief of Resort Military Command 0901, Aji Suranata Kesuma. "Together with the Resort Military Command 0901 chief and the East Kalimantan Police chief, I will coordinate with the Tarakan local government officials, religious leaders, tribal chiefs and other community figures to prevent the clashes from escalating," the governor said. The governor said that the community conflict in Tarakan must be settled soon so that the people would return to their daily activities. "I hope this problem would be solved as soon as possible so that the people would regain their normal life and the economy which happened to be disturbed could be revived," he said. The governor said that he also hoped leaders of the two rival groups would restrain and leave the matter to police. After all, police have held actors in this case so that there was no need to continue the conflict. Awang also admitted that security officers had taken control of the situation in the Tarakan City. "Security officers, both from police and the military, have taken control of the situation and localized or isolated the two rival groups in two separate locations, one in the Selimut area and the other in Simpang Empat zone," he said. In the meantime, the National Police Headquarters under the deputy to the police chief for operational affairs (Deops) Insp. Gen. Soenarko, is directly supervising military operations to control the situation in the conflict areas. "Insp. Gen. Soenarko flew directly to Tarakan today to control the operations in the field," Police Deputy Spokesman Brig. Gen. I Ketut Untung Yoga Ana said. Soenarko flew with the chairman of the South Sulawesi Family Association (IKSS) to Tarakan in an effort to coordinate efforts to control situation there," he said. Yoga said that the clashes should be stopped or calmed down because otherwise it would escalate. "The departure (of Soenarko to Tarakan) is to prevent possible further incident ahead and (to collect facts) he would report to the Police chief and the president," he said. Home Affairs Minister Gamawan Fauzi had earlier reported to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono over the latest developments of the communal clashes. The home affairs told reporters before he met with the president on Wednesday that his ministry had sent its Conflict Management director to Tarakan. "I am concerned over the incident. I have called three times the East Kalimantan governor on the phone asking him to make serious efforts," the home minister said. He said that the condition in Tarakan had actually returned to normal on Tuesday noon but it worsened again and the incident was repeated Tuesday night. "We were there yesterday when the situation was already calm but it turned out that in some locations which were difficult to control, potential incidents still existed," he said.***1*** |
Selasa, 28 September 2010
BUSINESSES WANT BETTER INFRASTRUCTURAL FACILITIES
| By Andi Abdussalam |
Jakarta, Sept. 28 (ANTARA) - Businesses urge the government to focus on the development of infrastructure such as roads, seaports, airports, electricity and other facilities that support the activities of domestic industries so that they would improve the competitive edge of the country's products and boost economic growth. "Last year we were the biggest low calorie coal exporter, had the largest agricultural land and highest volume of crude palm oil (CPO) production. These are assets for us to build sustainable economic growth. However, this all would have weak contribution to the economic growth if they were not supported by enough infrastructural facilities such as roads, electricity, seaports and airports," Vice President of PT Indika Energy Wishnu Wardana said here on Tuesday. So far, businesses considered that the development of infrastructure in the country has not yet been done maximally. Thus, the competitive edge of the country's products could not yet be improved. "There is no significant improvement in industrial competitiveness because the government fails to focus on infrastructure. The government can only meet 30 percent of the economic budget and the rest is for the business sector, but it should be supported by infrastructure and the budget should be focused on infrastructure," Andi Putra of the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin) said recently. According to Andi, the government should start to focus 2011 budget on infrastructure development in agriculture sector in an effort to step up domestic industrial competitiveness. Meanwhile Kadin deputy chairman for fiscal policy and monetary Haryadi Sukamdani said that in making the policy the government should also consider the capability in business and industrial sector to maintain competitive power. "Do not make a policy which systematically weaken the competitive power by raising basic electricity rate tariff and plans to raise it again next year," Haryadi said. He said it's better for the government to improve energy policy so that industrial and business players were not burdened by high energy cost. Indonesian Young Businessmen Association (Hipmi) chairman Erwin Aksa said meawhile that domestic business players so far were less competitive with overseas producers because infrastructure had yet to be well developed and the government policy did not support business and industrial activity. "Industrial development is also slow and only grows by four to five percent per year while in reality it could reach 11 percent in 1998," he said. President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said last month that the government would focus on the development of infrastructure in 2011. "We are going to focus the budget on the development of good quality infrastructure facilities in our effort to improve the pace of economic development," President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said in his statement on 2011 draft State Budget (APBN) last month. The president said the funds would be used among other for construction of 4,551-meter flyovers and underpasses, and bridges of a total length of 2,119 meters. "We will also use the funds to preserve 355,961 kilometers of roads, 212 roads, and 212.36 kilometers of bridges in addition to stepping up the capacity of 2,613 kilometers of roads," the president said. For infrastructure development next year, the government will increase its budget from Rp108 trillion to RP126 trillion. According to Vice Minister for Financial Affairs Anny Ratnawati the budget for infrastructure in 2011 would increase Rp18 trillion to Rp126 trillion from Rp108 trillion in 2010. "Investment in the infrastructural sector would be carried out through a government-private sector partnership program. In 2010, the budget for it is set at Rp108 trillion, and it will increase to Rp126 trillion in 2011," the vice minister said on Tuesday. She said that the budget in the infrastructural sector should be managed as well as possible so that Indonesia's competitiveness could be increased. The increase in the infrastructure funds was expected to boost economic growth because the country's competitive edge would also be raised. Businesses hailed the increase in the infrastructure budget, as what was said by Vice President of PT Indika Energy, Wishnu Wardana. "The government cannot do it alone. It needs the private sector's role. But we need legal certainties which at present are being questioned by many quarters," he said. After all, the government is only able to finance about 30 percent of the needed infrastructure development which reach about Rp280 trillion per year. According to Finance Minister Agus Martowardojo, investment in the infrastructural sector in the 2010- 2014 period is estimated at Rp1,400 trillion, of which the government is only able to finance 30 percent. In order to accelerate the development of infrastructure in the country, the government will begin auctioning the 2011 infrastructure projects next November so that the disbursement of the budget could be realized earlier. "Our target is that the auction for infrastructure projects in 2011 would have begun in November this year and contracts would have been concluded in January 2011," director general for road construction of the Public Works Ministry, Djoko Murjanto said. He said that accelerating the auction of the 2011 infrastructure projects and the finalization of the work contracts was to speed up the project realization and budget absorption so that it would not accumulate at year end.***2*** |
Senin, 27 September 2010
RI TO HAVE 180 SUKHOIS, 50 KFX WAR PLANES
| By Andi Abdussalam |
Jakarta, Sept 27 (ANTARA) - Despite its limited military budget, Indonesia is planning to reinforce its Air Force in stages and in the coming 15 years, it will have a new generation of 50 war planes from South Korea in addition to ten squadrons of 180 Russian-made Sukhoi jet fighters. "In 2020, Indonesia will have a new generation of warplanes which will be produced under a cooperation scheme with South Korea," Defense Minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro said on Monday. Under the cooperation scheme with South Korea, Indonesia will get a total of 50 war planes designed by South Korea with a fighting capability not second to that of F16 jet fighter planes. According to Secretary General of the Ministry of Defense and Security Vice Marshal Erris Herryanto, in carrying out the cooperation Indonesia would do its best so that the KFX planes would be produced in Indonesia, particularly by the Indonesian aircraft industry PT Dirgantara Indonesia (DI). "We hope that the war planes will be made here in Indonesia. We will discuss this matter with South Korea," he said. He said that in the contract of cooperation between South Korea and Indonesia, five prototypes of the planes were expected to be made together. One of the five prototypes will be made in Indonesia and four others in South Korea. After the conclusion of the working contract, there will be a phase of war plane production to be made at home. "There will be a phase in which the war planes will be produced at home after the work contract is concluded," he said. In the agreement which was signed between the commissioner of South Korea's Ministry of Defense and the Secretary General of the Indonesian Defense Ministry Vice Marshal Erris Herryanto, Indonesia will bear 20 percent of the cost and will get 50 war planes which have a fighting capability exceeding that of F-16s. In the meantime, by 2024, Indonesia also hopes to have ten squadrons of 180 Sukhoi jet fighters to guard the country. "To defend our country's sovereignty, we have set a target to have 180 Sukhoi jet fighters by developing 10 squadrons," Minister Purnomo, who was accompanied Chief of the Air Force Marshall Imam Sufaat, said in Makassar Monday. Each squadron will have 18 Sukhois, he said. The defense ministry in its strategic working plan has also to buy F-16 Fighting Falcons to replace Australia-made Hawks. Russia has expressed its readiness to supply as many Sukhois as Indonesia needs. "With the improving national economic condition, it will help the government in acquiring weapons to strengthen the national defense," he said. Now Indonesia already has ten Sukhoi war planes. In 2003, Indonesia purchased two Sukhois of the SU-30 MK type and two of the SU-27SK type. Later, the Defense Ministry bought six more Sukhois in 2007 worth US$300 million, or Rp2.85 trillion. The six purchased Sukhois consisted of three SU-30MK2s and three SU-30SKM. Three SU-30MK2s arrived in Makassar in 2008 and 2009. The other three arrived this month (Sept. 2010) and were officially handed over to the defense minister on Monday (Sept 27, 2010). The purchase of the six Russian made Sukhois has been planned based on the Air Force's Fleet Development Program for 2005-2009. In the 2005 budget year, funds totalling US$310 million were allocated for the procurement of six Sukhois. The Russian Sukhoi producing company on August 21, 2007, announced the sale of the six jet fighters to Indonesia worth US$300 million. The procurement was to be conducted in stages in the 2007-2009 period. However three others were realized in 2010. The plan to reinforce the Air Force is being made amid a tight military budget. Therefore, the government is urged to increase the amount of military budget. After all, many military equipment needs maintenance. The shrinking military budget is being taken while about 70 percent of the country's military armaments are aging and the Indonesian Defense Forces (TNI) is putting to rest a number of its obsolete main armaments, including planes, ships and helicopters aged more than 30 years. It is predicted that in the coming ten years the maintenance of TNI's armaments would cost Rp93.87 trillion (US$10.203 billion), of which Rp41.9 trillion (US$4.5 billion) for the air force's armaments. So far, the government has provided only one third of the needed budget to maintain and preserve the military equipment. According to the House of Representatives, the ideal budget for the military is about Rp100 trillion. However the government last for example was only able to provide one third of it, or about Rp33 trillion. In the coming budget, the government has allocated Rp45.2 trillion. According to Fayakhun Andriadi, a member of the House of Representatives (DPR)'s Commission I on defense affairs, the government has to find a quick solution to the National Defense Forces (TNI)'s problem of inadequate military hardware and needs to improve servicemen's welfare. He said that the solution lays in implementing a Minimum Essential Force (MEF) buildup program or providing the TNI with minimum standard defense hardware and improving soldiers' welfare. As regards, Golkar Party Chairman Aburizal Bakrie ordered the Gokar faction (FPG) in the House of Representatives (DPR) to fight for increase in defense budget. "If we talk about state's security we cannot take it lightly. We should not be hampered by shortage of funds," the Golkar chairman told a press conference here on Monday. He said that Indonesia should not be weakened by shortage of funds so that it should raise its defense budget. "In term of defending sovereignty we should not be weak. I ask the Golkar faction in the House to fight for increased budget based on the need," he said. He did not mention how much increased budget was needed for the defense system. In his address on the 2011 draft state budget and financial notes at the House Plenary session last August, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said that the Defense Ministry got a budget allocation of Rp45.2 trillion. Aburizal Bakari said that a budget of that amount for maintaining the country's sovereignty was too small. ***1*** |
Rabu, 22 September 2010
EXPORTS WEAKENED AS RUPIAH APPRECIATING
| By Andi Abdussalam |
Jakarta, Sept 22 (ANTARA) - The rupiah's appreciation since last week strengthening to below Rp8,950 against the green-back at the Jakarta interbank spot market on Wednesday evening has caused concern among exporters . Head of the Financial Division of PT Bank OCBC NISP, Suriyanto Chang said on Wednesday that the rupiah continued to appreciate and edge closer to a level below Rp8,950 per US dollar. He said the appreciation worried exporters because it could cause a problem for their products in the export market. On Wednesday, the rupiah in the Jakarta interbank spot market traded at a range of Rp8,960-Rp8,970 against the US dollar but at the closing in the evening it strengthened further and rose to a level below Rp8,850 over active rupiah buy-ups. Suriyanto Chang said that the rupiah inclined to appreciating due to strong incoming flow of foreign funds into the domestic market. The rupiah on Wednesday evening rose 17 points to Rp8,943-Rp9,953 per US dollars compared to the previous day's closing at Rp8,960-Rp8,970. Retail Banking Director of PT Bank Mega Kostaman Thayib said meanwhile that market players continued to purchase the rupiah so that it continue to appreciate and reached a level below the Rp8,950 per US dollar. Seeing the strengthening trend of the rupiah against the green-back, financial market analyst Irfan Kurniawan predicted that the rupiah value would continue to remain at a stable range of Rp8,950-Rp9,000 until the year-end. "The rupiah value at the Rp8,950 - Rp9,000 is an ideal one because it would still enable both exporters and importers to carry out their activities well, though exports at present are showing a downward trend," Irfan said on Wednesday. Irfan who is also financial analyst of PT First Asia Capital said the value of rupiah at Rp8,945-Rp8,955 range was not too far from the Rp9,000 range. That is why the government still lets the rupiah fluctuate within that range. He said that the government actually wanted the rupiah value to be above the Rp9,000 level but due to the decline of its exports it let the rupiah stay below the Rp9,000 level. The present level of rupiah value only had a thin margin with the Rp9,000 level and it did not pose too much problem to the export activities. Exporters still could carry out their activities even if the rupiah is below Rp9,000 per US dollar. Exporters would complain and ask the government to stop the strengthening of the country's currency if it reached the Rp8,700 - Rp8,800 level. Irfan said a value of rupiah at that level would reduce exporters' profit as it would reduce their competitiveness in the world market. Last week, when the rupiah appreciated and almost reached Rp8,800 per US dollar the government was forced to consult Bank Indonesia (BI/the central bank) to overcome the rupiah appreciation. The government even asked BI to maintain the rupiah value at the Rp9,000 level. But the strong inflow of foreign capital to the domestic market posed difficulties to the central bank to carry out an intervention to off set the rupiah and rekindle its value back to the Rp9,000 level. "We predict that the rupiah would remain below the Rp9,000 level until the end of the year," Irfan said. The rupiah began to show an upward trend when it edged closer to Rp8,950 per dollar at the Jakarta interbank spot market late Tuesday on active rupiah buy-ups last week. The rupiah traded at Rp8,955-Rp8,965 per dollar compared to Rp8,995-Rp9,005 per dollar earlier at the weekend, up 40 points. Finan Corpindo Nusa President Director Edwin Sinaga said a number of internal and external positive sentiments had raised demand for the rupiah, causing the Indonesian currency to strengthen significantly against the greenback. One of the positive sentiments was the fact that Indonesia's global competitiveness rating rose by 10 notches to 44th among 132 countries surveyed, he said. He said the rupiah was expected to further strengthen to a level of Rp8,900 per dollar due to the strong positive sentiments. "We are optimistic if Bank Indonesia (BI) does not intervene in the market the rupiah will edge closer to a level of Rp8,900 per dollar," he said last week. He said the rupiah still had a great chance to further appreciate particularly because of the strengthening of Wall Street, fueled by the dollar's weakening against euro and yen. In response to the appreciation, BI Governor Darmin Nasution said that the present rupiah exchange rate was still competitive for the national economy compared to those of the currencies of neighboring countries. "The argument that our competitiveness has declined because of the rupiah's appreciation is not valid because the currencies of other countries have appreciated even more," he said. He said until Friday last week the exchange rate of the rupiah was Rp8,980 against the US dollar while its yearly average is still at Rp9,130 or it has only appreciated by 4.8 percent since early this year. "That is the same as that of Philippine Peso but is smaller than Thai Baht which is 7 percent and Malaysian ringgit 8 percent," he said. Darmin admitted BI had bought US dollars to make the rupiah remain stable and its volatility not to big. The view of some ministers that the rupiah was no longer competitive for trade was not correct because the rupiah was not alone. Regarding the assumption for the rupiah exchange rate in the 2011 draft budget which is set at Rp9,300 per US dollar Darmin said that the government did not wish to weaken the rupiah but based upon the results of calculation made along with BI, the high inflation next year could lower the value of the rupiah. "The fact is if the capital from abroad keeps flowing in certainly the rupiah will not be able to stand at that level (Rp9,300 against the US dollar)," he said. The huge flow of foreign capital into Indonesia coupled by the depreciation of the US dollar against other currencies recently have made the rupiah value to appreciate to Rp8,900. Several ministers however felt that the appreciation was too high and therefore could disrupt domestic industrial exports. ***2*** |
Selasa, 21 September 2010
BANK CENTURY CASE SHOULD NOT BE SOLVED PARTIALLY
| By Andi Abdussalam |
Jakarta, Sept 21 (ANTARA) - After several months not heard of, the Bank Century case was raised once again by at least two lawmakers on Tuesday where law enforcers were urged to summon officials involved and solve the problem comprehensively. The lawmakers raised the issue again after President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on Monday ordered government officials to make efforts to recover the assets of the bank. However legislators said that the recovery of Bank Century assets was not a priority in solving the problem but its legal case. "The asset recovery is the fourth point in the recommendation of the House Special Committee on Century," Deputy Chairman of the House Special Committee on Century Mahfud Siddiq said here on Tuesday. He said that the settlement of the legal aspect of Bank Century case should become a priority. "The people are waiting for the settlement of the legal case of the bank, not its asset recovery as said by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono," Mahfud who is also secretary general of the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), said. He said that the bank's assets which were stashed abroad by Robert Tantular (century's owner) had been scheduled to be recovered in two years. Mahfud is of the opinion that Yudhoyono's statement which asked for intensive efforts to return the bank's assets was an effort to cover up the legal case of Bank Century. "One should not exaggerate the asset recovery problems that could cause the legal process of the bank to sink into oblivion," he said. The same voice was also aired by legislator Bambang Soesatyo of the Golkar Party. While he appreciated President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's statement which ordered the recovery of Bank Century's assets stashed abroad, Bambang Soesatyo hoped that the problem of Bank Century should be solved once for all. "The settlement of the Bank Century case had better be made comprehensively," Bambang Soesatyo, member of the House of Representatives (DPR)'s Monitoring Team on the Century Case, said. He said that the case must be settled comprehensively so that his team asked the Indonesian Police to investigate all former officials involved in the case. Bambang Soesatyo mentioned the names of former Bank Indonesia (BI/the central bank)'s governor and the former finance minister among the officials who must be summoned and examined over the alleged banking crime and money laundering with regard to the Bank Century mega scandal. "If we are serious about settling the problem it should not be tackled partially but comprehensively and firmly," Soesatyo said. This means that there should be no reluctance to do so because it involves a big case with huge funds amounting to trillions of funds. "That's why all law enforcing agencies should have the courage to carry out the people's mandate in creating a democratic life which is truly respectable, civilized and smart," he said. He said that the move by the president to order the recovery of the bank's assets overseas should be coupled with the settlement of other aspects which were more crucial for upholding justice in the country. On Monday, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said the government would make more effective efforts to regain the assets of the former Bank Century. He said the government would take two-way efforts to deal with the Century Bank case namely improving the performance of the bank which has been renamed Bank Mutiara and making the efforts to return Bank Century's assets more effectively. "We will do it simultaneously. On the one hand we will make Bank Mutiara thrive and on the other we will regain the Century Bank assets more effectively," he said at his office in connection with the problem. He made the statement after receiving a report about the progress in the efforts to regain the assets of the Century Bank taken away by those involved in the case. "I think efforts must be intensified. Integrated and joint efforts to regain the Bank Century assets abroad should be taken with a hope the results would be parallel with the court's ruling," he said. President Yudhoyono said although Bank Mutiara had recorded good growth that was not sufficient yet and therefore the two way efforts were still needed. The chairman of the board of commissioners of the Deposit Insurance Agency (LPS), Rudjito, said that some local and foreign investors had expressed their interest to buy Bank Mutiara. He said the condition of the bank is improving with its total assets reaching Rp8 trillion up from minus Rp7 trillion at the takeover. Bank Mutiara, formerly Bank Century, was the only bank bailed out by the LPS at the time of crisis in 2008. In late 2008, Bank Century during the crisis faced liquidity and default problems. It collapsed after its liquidity assets amounting to about Rp11.6 trillion were withdrawn, through its security firm Antaboga Delta Sekuritas, and stashed abroad by its owner Robert Tantular. The ailing bank was than taken over by the Deposit Insurance Agency (LPS). The government later provided it with a bailout of Rp6.7 trillion through the issuance of a Short-Term Funding Facility (FPJP) and Temporary Capital Participation (PMS). The amount provided was far higher than the Rp1.3 trillion then discussed with the House of Representatives (DPR). Thus, the bailout sparked public criticism and questions as it was disbursed without approval of the House of Representatives (DPR). The House of Representatives later set up an inquiry committee to look into possible violations in the provision of the bailout. At the end of their inquiry in at plenary session, seven of the nine factions of the House in the committee, mentioned that violations had been committed with regard to the issuance of the Short-Term Funding Facility (FPJP) and Temporary Capital Participation (PMS).***1*** |
Senin, 20 September 2010
NUMBER OF THIS YEAR'S IDUL FITRI TRAVELERS DOWN
| By Andi Abdussalam |
Jakarta, Sept 20 (ANTARA) - The hustle and bustle of this year's post-fasting Idul Fitri Holidays or Lebaran remained festive even though the number of Lebaran travelers going to their home towns declined by 0.35 percent compared to that last year. After all, the death toll of traffic accidents during the period of seven days before and after the Idul Fitri holidays also declined 51.49 percent to 328 deaths from 637 deaths in the same period last year. The Ministry of Transportation said on Monday that the number of this year's Idul Fitri travelers slightly dropped from that a year earlier. "The number of Idul Fitri travelers this year dropped by 0.35 percent," Transportation Minister Freddy Numberi said when he officially closed a command post for monitoring Idul Fitri travelers on Monday. He said that up to the D-Day minus seven and D-Day plus seven this year the number of travelers catered by all modes of land, sea and air transportation system reached 13,980,204, or 0.35 percent lower than the 13,980,378 travelers recorded during the same period last year. Last year, then transportation minister Jusman Syafii Djamal said the number of Idul Fitri travelers was estimated at 27.25 million, of which 16.2 million used various public transportation modes while the remaining 11.2 million used private cars and motor cycles. Freddy Number said that land transportation modes, including inland waterway transportation services, recorded a decline in the number of travelers by 0.43 percent. He said that last year land transportation modes recorded 8,666,392 Idul Fitri travelers while this year it was recorded at 8,629,030 passengers. The number of those using land transportation increased 1.5 from last year's 5,383,629 to 5,464,134 this year, and those for inland waterway transportation services recorded a decline of 3,59 percent from last year's 3,282,769 to 3,164,896 this year. Air transportation modes recorded a 15.52 percent increase from last year's 2,163,731 to 2,499,468 this year. "This could happen because of the availability of seats and guaranteed flight schedules," Minister Numberi said. He said that the sea transportation modes recorded a decline of 43 percent in Idul Fitri travelers from 718,307 last year to 409,429 this year. "But these data are recorded up to the D-Day plus seven. It is expected that it will still increase because sea transportation modes would still serve Idul Fitri travelers until D-Day plus 15," the minister said. He said that train transportation modes also recorded a decline of passengers by 1.59 percent from 2,431,948 last year to 2,393,277 this year. In the meantime, Idul Fitri travelers using two wheel motorcycles were also expected to drop by 15 percent. Director for Transportation Affairs of the Directorate General of Land Transportation, Sudirman Lambali said that travelers using motorcycles were not as high as we had predicted. "We have predicted that the number of travelers using two-wheel vehicles would reach over 3,6 million but in reality it was only 2.3 million. This is lower than last year's which stood at 2.7 million," he said. The number of two wheel motorists were monitored in five points such as in Ciasem, Sadang, Merak, Cianjur and Ciamis. Of the five points, it was found that the highest number of Idul Fitri travelers using motor vehicles was recorded at the Ciasem point in Subang district, West Java where a total of 1,115,199 were recorded, Sudirman said. In the meantime, police, during their Idul Fitri pacification operations code-named "Operasi Ketupat" held from September 3 to 18, 2010, found that total of 328 people had been killed in traffic accidents. The death toll of this year?s traffic accidents during the festivities dropped 51.49 percent compared to that in the same period a year earlier which stood at 637. Head of National Police Human Relations Brig. Gen. Iskandar Hasan said that the total number of traffic accident victims during the Lebaran festivities last week reached 1,460, including 328 deaths. Iskandar said that the victims suffering from serious injuries totaled 438 and light injuries 892. "Cases of traffic violations accounted for 36,962 during the operations, of which 31,377 were ticketed and 5,377 others receiving reminders," he said. Iskandar said that police also recorded at total of 3,503 criminal cases, of which 2,551 were conventional crimes and 665 were other form of crimes. During the operations, Police deployed 89,521 personnel with 2,592 security posts established throughout Indonesia. During the Idul Fitri exodus in 2009, police recorded a total traffic accidents of 1,544. The death toll in the total of 1,544 traffic accidents reached 576 people. The accidents caused over 600 people to sustain serious and 1,397 others light injuries. The death toll in traffic accidents during the Idul Fitri holidays reached 798 in 2007, and decreased to 548 during the Idul Fitri holiday season iof 2008. ***4*** |
Minggu, 19 September 2010
CENTRAL BANK'S NEW REGULATIONS TO BOOST REAL SECTOR
| By Andi Abdussalam |
Jakarta, Sept 20 (ANTARA) - The development of the real sector in the country which so far only runs at a snail's pace will find a new boost when newly-issued regulations of Bank Indonesia (BI/the central bank) are effective beginning next year. Thus, the BI policies regarding banks' minimum reserve requirement (GWM) and loan-to-deposit ratio (LDR) will in turn generate the country's economic development in the long run. "If applied consistently, the BI policy on LDR will help develop the real sector," Chairman of the Indonesian Young Entrepreneurs Association (HIPMI) Erwin Aksa said in a press statement on Sunday. Bank Indonesia Governor Darmin Nasution has earlier said that banks were facing a big problem with liquidity access by businesses, and if it was left unheeded it would create inflationary pressures that would endanger national economy. In order to encourage banks' intermediary roles, Bank Indonesia issued a regulation of 8 percent minimum reserve requirement (GWM) based on loan-to-deposit ratio (LDR) ranging between 78 and 100 percent. This regulation will be effective as of March 2011. Bank Indonesia will also issue a new regulation on lending rates in November 2010. Based on the new regulation, banks will be required to make public the interest rates of their credits based on each sector. In response to the central bank's policies, Erwin Aksa said that the financial sector would boost the real sector in the long run so that the big volumes of unpaid loans at banks could be absorbed by the real sector. "With the new regulations, banks would lead to extend credits and create competition. They will compete to find big and potential customers. In the meantime, bank customers will also look for interesting credit schemes offered by banks," he said. After all, he said, the transparent prime lending rate regulation will also make businesses easy to find competitive banks. So far, businesses felt that banks covered up many things, particularly with regard to the percentage of their credit interest rates, he said. "It seems that the big number of banks in the country is not yet able to produced a competitive market apart from the consumption sector," the HIPMI chairman said. In the meantime, BI Deputy Governor Halim Alamsyah said BI was upbeat its newly-issued regulation of minimum reserve requirement based on loan-to-deposit ratio would encourage sound competition among banks. "Banks which raise their lending rates mean that they transfer costs to customers to prevent a shortfall in their margins. However, they will face competition from other banks which do not raise their lending rates and reduce their margins because their margins are already high. Let's see how the competition will look like," he said. Halim said the increase in primary reserve requirement to 8 percent from 5 percent and the obligation to keep LDR at a range of 78-100 percent would likely raise banks' fund management costs. However, banks should not transfer the costs to customers and should start reducing their high margins, he said. He said the central bank had already considered all the possibilities as a result of the new regulation. "Therefore, we have not as yet announced all of our policies. Our next policy is that we will ask banks to announce their prime lending rates," he said. Hopefully, BI would issue the policy requiring banks to announce their prime lending rates later this year, he said. Under the new regulation, banks that have LDR outside the target range will be subject to disincentives based on the difference between the LDR and the target range. If their LDR exceeds the target range with adequate capital they will deserve incentives. The regulation will come into force as from March 1, 2011 to give banks a chance to meet the target range. As regard to the loan-to-deposit ration, Bank Indonesia Governor Darmin Nasution said banks did not need to increase their lending rates to meet the new requirement. "There are several ways to increase the LDR such as by reducing third party funds. So I do not agree that the new reserve requirement is causing banks to bear higher costs," he said. He said by reducing third party funds banks would incur lower costs of funds so that they could even cut their credit interest rates. The objections to the new reserve requirement policy which was to be implemented in March 2011 did not come from all banks as some of them already had an LDR above 78 percent. According to BI data the average LDR of banks in the country in September reached 78 percent. Objections to the policy, he said, only came from a number of big banks (BCA, Bank Mandiri and BNI) whose LDRs were below 78 percent because they had huge third party funds. "These banks seem intent only on collecting as many third party funds as possible. Just look at the prizes they are offering in their promotions," he said. But, he said, BI was hoping the banks would be able to meet the lowest limit of the LDR next March. "I think they will be able to achieve it. If they cannot they should increase their reserves," he said. He said BI had issued the policy to encourage banks to extend more loans, especially to productive sectors to help boost the country's economy and speed up development. Darmin predicted the growth of credits this year would still be below 20 percent although early in September it had reached 21 percent as credits were predicted to drop from September to the end of the year. Therefore, he said, banks should follow the new LDR-based reserve requirement so that their credit extension performance would remain high. |
RETURNING TRAVELERS FLOW
| By Andi Abdussalam |
Jakarta, Sept 18 (ANTARA) - The reverse flow of this year's Idul Fitri or Lebaran exodus is expected to peak on Saturday or Sunday as millions of travellers are due to resume their routine activities on Monday after week-long reunions with family or relatives in their respective home towns or villages. Millions of seasonal passengers traveled to their home towns for the reunions during the annual post-fasting Lebaran holidays. "It is expected that the peak of the returning flow of Lebaran travellers will take place today," Ahmad Saputra, a spokesman of the Senen Railway Station in Central Jakarta, said here on Saturday. He said that the number of Idul Fitri travelers arriving at Senen station on Saturday was expected to reach 16 thousand. "I think the figure will not be too far from that arriving on D-Day plus four which reached 14,755 passengers," he said. Ahmad said that the number of arriving passengers on D-Day plus one (Sunday), plus two and plus three was only about 6,000 per day but it jumped on D-Day plus four to 14,755 passengers. On D-Day plus five it reached 14,858 and on D-Day plus six, the number of arriving passengers dropped to 11,771. Up to 11,30 hours on Saturday, a total of 8,396 returning passengers had arrived at the station on 18 trains. A total of 12 other trains had yet arrive. During this year's lebaran festivities, railway company Perum Kerta Api fielded 30 trains from Senen station, of which 20 trains were regular ones and 10 others were additional. In the meantime, the reverse flow of Idul Fitri travellers, both with vehicles or in person, on Saturday began to show density at Bakauheni port in the eastern tip of Sumatra which connected Merak port in the western tip of Java. Based on ANTARA's observation, thousands of passengers continued to flow and packed the waiting room of the ticket counters. They stood in queue to get their turn to purchase ferry tickets to cross the Sunda strait from Sumatra to Java. Most of passengers came from Rajabasa Main Bus Terminal in Bandarlampung which is one of the last bus terminals which connect passengers with other cities in Sumatra. Private vehicles, both two wheel and four or more wheels, has also flowed since in the morning creating long queues and accumulations. Based on data at Bakauheni command post, at least 408,526 returning Idul Fitri travelers have been ferried by the inland waterway transportation service PT ASDP from Bakauheni port of Lampung Merak port of Java. The figure was based on accumulative data of returning travellers from Sunday (Sept 12) to early Saturday at 00:00 Western Indonesia Standard Time (WIB). The number of passengers ferried from Bakauheni to Merak on the D-Day plus one last Sunday reached 52,000, on the D-Day plus two 74,496, on D-Day plus three 81,009, on the D-Day plus four 80,219, on the D-Day plus five 60,125 and on the D-day plus six (last Friday) 59,793. On the D-Day plus three, the number of travelers was the highest one because the day was the end of the joint holidays announced by the government. In the meantime the number of vehicles transported from Bakauheni to Marak since the D-Day plus one to plus seven was recorded at 81,642 units. It consisted of 41,214 two wheel vehicles and 40,328 four or more wheel vehicles. The highest number of vehicles ferried took place on the D-Day plus three when it reached 16,879 units of various vehicles such as private cars, motorcycles, buses and trucks. Before the Idul Fitri holidays, PT ASDP recorded at total of 427,073 home-bound travellers who travelled to Sumatra from Java with vehicles amounting to 93,389 units, of which 44,131 were two wheel motor vehicles and 49,000 were four or more wheel vehicles. For the time being, the ferry service company has recorded 408,528 travelers who have returned from Sumatra to Java since the D-Day plus one with 81,642 vehicles, of which 41,314 were two wheel and 40,328 where four wheel or more. Meanwhile, the peak of the reverse flow of Idul Fitri travellers in East Java was expected to take place on Sunday. PT ASDP predicted that travelers from East Java through Ketapang port to Bali would peak on Sunday. "The movement of travelers' flow through Ketapang port could already be observed this evening and tomorrow. Sunday would be the last day of travellers' days off," PT ASDP Manager for Ketapang Charda Damanik said on Saturday. He said that schools would also begin their classes on Monday so that it was predicted that Sunday was the last holiday. Thus travellers who would be ferried to Bali would peak on Sunday. Damanik said that PT ASDP would not put into operations 28 units of ferries which had been prepared before because Uma Kalada ferry which replaced KMP Bontang Kaltim (now docking in Surabaya), would have its operation permit expired on Saturday. "Therefore, we will optimise the operations of KMP Uma Kalada today and tonight," he said. The number of travelers who were ferried to Bali on Friday up to 00:00 hours on Saturday was recorded at 8,323 passengers with two wheel vehicles reaching 5,291 and four wheel ones recorded at 1,176 units. The total number of travellers who had returned to Bali since the D-Day plus one was recorded at 206,068 with total two wheel vehicles at 33,132 and four wheel ones at 23,345 units. In the meantime, the total number of travellers crossing from Bali to Java during the D-Day minus seven to minus one was 110,223 persons, two wheel vehicles 3,745 and four wheel ones 18,883. During the Idul Fitri holiday season last year, the number of home-bound travellers reached 27.25 million, of which 16.2 million used various public transportation modes while the remaining 11.2 million used private cars and motorcycles.***4*** |
Kamis, 16 September 2010
MINISTERS INDIFFERENT OVER RESHUFFLE DISCOURSE
| By Andi Abdussalam |
Jakarta, Sept 17 (ANTARA) - Some ministers did not react too much over the discourse that President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono was likely to reshuffle his cabinet ministers this year. The discourse on the possible cabinet shake-up was raised recently by Achmad Mubarok, member of the ruling Democrat Party (PD)'s board of patrons. Mubarok raised the issue after the Presidential Working Unit for Development Control and Supervision (UKP4) made the assessment that some ministers lacked maximal performance. Yet, a number of ministers in the Indonesia United Cabinet did not take it seriously. "There is no problem if some people voice inappropriate opinions in looking at a certain issue," Darwin Zahedy Saleh, energy and mineral resources (ESDM) minister, said after a cabinet session on Thursday. Some people have taken up the UKP4 assessment results to voice their opinions that some ministers are likely to be replaced by the president. Darwin has heard such an opinion. He admitted that his ministry had a red score on certain fields by the UKP4. "The energy and mineral resources ministry got a red report on certain fields," he said. However, the ESDM has got the red scores not merely because of its weaknesses but also of external factors such as the delay in the disbursement of budget that hampered the implementation of its programs. "So, we would like to see the red reports more as a blessing in disguise," Minister Darwin said. Law and Human Rights Minister Patrialis Akbar did not either give much response to the discourse on the cabinet shake-up. "Just let people have their own opinions ," Patrialis said. He expressed regret about the attitude of certain people who considered the UKP4 assessment results as a signal that the president would be willing to replace his ministers. After all, the delay in a number of ministers' programs was not merely due to the mistakes of the ministries concerned. "Many have dreams to become a minister so that it seems as if they were using the red scores of the current ministers as a propaganda," Patrialis said. On separate occasions, Transportation Minister Freddy Numberi and Public Works Minister Djoko Kirmanto said they had not yet received the final results of the UKP4 assessment, and that they did not respond to the reshuffle discourse. Cooperatives and Small Enterprises Minster Syarifuddin Hasan said he always followed the assessment of the presidential working unit but he refused to disclose the results of the UKP4 assessment of his ministry. "It should not come from me, but the UKP4," he said. In the meantime, Chief Patron of the United Development Party (PPP) Lukman Saefuddin said the reshuffle issue was raised by Achmad Mubarok to exert pressures so that Yudhoyono would reshuffle his cabinet. "It was a kind of a fait accompli" he said. He said that it was the president's prerogative right to replace or not to replace his ministers. Lukman said that the discourse only posed a difficulty to the president in deciding a policy regarding his ministers. The PPP chief patron said that keeping on raising the reshuffle discourse created the impression that the president was being pushed to go ahead with replacing his ministers. Therefore, he asked Democrat Party cadres to appreciate the president's steps in deciding his own policies regarding whether or not he was going to reshuffle his cabinet. He said that PPP felt it had nothing to loose with the cabinet shake-up discourse as long as it was raised by people other than the president himself. Therefore, Lukman hoped that the president would soon respond to the discourse affirming whether or not he would replace his ministers. If the president affirmed he would not reshuffle his cabinet, Lukman hoped that the Democrat Party cadres would stop raising the issue because it would only disturb political communications. "If the president says no, the discourse should be stopped soon," he said. Recently, Achmad Mubarok said that President Yudhoyono was likely to reshuffle his cabinet this year. "We have the experience in the past when the president replaced his ministers. The president will replace his ministers after one year of his government. It will be one year next October," said Mubarok. He said that the UKP4 assessment report could serve as a basis for Yudhoyono to relace his ministers who were considered lacking performance. "The UKP4 has made a report where a number of ministers have got red scores. This is a reference for Yudhoyono to carry out a cabinet shake-up," he said. Mubarok said he did know the ministers who would be replaced, neither did he know when the replacement would take place but he predicted that five ministers would likely be replaced. "Only the president who knows who and when," he said. However, Democrat Party Chairman Anas Urbaningrum denied if his party was encouraging the president to carry out a cabinet shake-up. "I have never heard about the 'reshuffle' issue (from the president). The Democrat Party will not involve itself in the issue because the reshuffle issue is not only the prerogative right of the president but also we do not want to disturb the concentration of ministers in carrying out their tasks," Anas said. He said that the Democrat Party had the commitment to reinforcing the country's presidential system by fully leaving the ministers affairs to the president. "There is no need to urge the president to reshuffle his cabinet. On the other hand the president should neither be hampered if he would carry out refreshment of his cabinet," said Anas. In the meantime, Democrat Party Deputy Chief Patron Marzuki Alie who is also the House Speaker, asked that people should not heed the reshuffle discourse. "There is no need to hear it. The reshuffle discourse came out of Mubarok's personal statement," said Marzuki. He stressed that as deputy chief patron of the party, he had never heard about the reshuffle. "I never heard about it," Marzuki who is also former secretary general of the Democrat Party said. He said that Mubarok could have made the statement because of his personal dislike of certain ministers. "It can be that he had made the statement about the reshuffle because he disliked certain ministers. I am close to all ministers myself," he said. Democrat Party associate chairman Radityo Gambiro said the cabinet reshuffle issue was raised by Mubarok based on his personal opinion. "That is his own opinions and analysis. We should respect his opinions," said Gambiro. ***1*** |
Minggu, 05 September 2010
IDUL FITRI TRAVELERS BEGIN TO FLOCK AT PORTS
| By Andi Abdussalam |
Jakarta, Sept 5 (ANTARA) - Transportation and ferry port operators throughout the country are busy these days, at least until the next two weeks, in the face of high mobility of homeward post-fasting Idul Fitri holiday travelers. Five days ahead of the Idul Fitri D-Day next Friday, millions of people in various parts of the country began flocking at seaports on Sunday to leave for their home towns for Idul Fitri (Lebaran) festivities. Increased activities were seen early on Sunday at Merak and Bakauheni, two of the busiest ferry ports in the country, which linked travelers from Java to Sumatra or vice versa. Others were Gilimanuk and Ketapang which connect Java and the tourist resort island of Bali. Operational Manager of inland waterway transport service PT ASDP, Zailis Anas, said the 29,806 figure indicated a drastic increase compared with the previous on Friday. He said that most of the passengers were passengers traveling on private and public vehicles. Of the 29,806, a total of 26,839 were passengers on vehicles and the remaining 2,847 were passengers in persons. The number of various types of vehicles also experienced an increase from 4,136 units to 4,989 units. During the D-Day minus six, the company put into operations 24 roll-on roll-off (roro) ferries with 89 trips. Data showed that the number of passengers from Bakauheni to Merak on Saturday was recorded at 29.08 while that of vehicles of various types reached 4,989 units. On Friday, the number of passengers reached 26,634 and various types of vehicles at 4,136 units, he said. "We have also increased the number of roro (roll in/roll out) ferries from 21 to 24," he added. The ferry port of Merak in the western tip of Java has predicted a 21 increase in Idul Fitri travelers this year. "Looking at passenger data last year, we believe that the number of Idul Fitri travelers this year will increase," Head of PT ASDP for Merak, Teja Suparna said. He said that based on the increase prediction, his side continued to monitor it for fear of a jump-up in the flow of both passengers in vehicles and passengers in persons. PT ASDP, he said, has predicted that the number of passengers and vehicles would begin to increase beginning from the D-Day minus five (five days before the Idul Fitri holidays) up to the D-Day minus one. He said that at present the number of passengers reached 65,000 while that of two-wheeled and four-wheeled vehicles (both private cars and trucks) reached 12,500 units. With the data, the flow of Idul Fitri travelers would increase to 21 percent this year. In the meantime, Idul Fitri travelers arriving at Ketapang port of East Java from Bali's Gilimanuk mostly used motorcycles. Data at PT ASDP for Ketapang showed that until 00.00 on Sunday, a total of 10,145 vehicles from Gilimanuk had arrived at the port, up 300 percent from 3,881 in the same period in 2009. The increase in the number of travelers using motorcycles was due to the fact that revelers were willing to have their own transportation facility during their trips and holidays in their home towns. Saiful who was traveling to Ciamis, West Java, said he and his wife and kids were prepared to travel a long trip on a motorcycle so that would be able to save money and have transportation facility during their holidays in their home town. "We do not want to disturb our relatives there so we travel with our motorcycle. If we are tired we can take a rest in a special place already prepared a long the way toward Ciamis," Saiful said. Increased flow of passengers also takes place. East Nusa Tenggara (NTT)'s Eltari airport even predicted an increase of about 10 - 12 percent in the flow of passengers during Idul Fitri holidays. Technical and Operational Manager of airport operator firm PT Angkasa Pura I, I Komang Sudiarta, said that the prediction was based on data recorded over the past five years from 2005 to 2009. "There must be an increase, but we do not yet know the exact percentage before we arrive at the D-Day plus seven or seven days after the Idul Fitri holdidays," he said. Sudiarta said that in 2005 the number of passengers flying through the airport during the period of D-Day minus seven and D-Day plus seven was recorded at 8,258, or about 516.13 per day. In the same period in 2006 it was recorded at 11,856, or an average of 741 per day, in 2007 it stood at 12,596 or about 787.25 per day, in 2008 there were 15,348 or an average of 959.25 per day and in 2009 it increased to 20,071 or 1254.44 per day. The same is also true to the airport in Ambon of Maluku province. The flow of passengers at Pattimura airport increased 25.21 percent on Saturday, six days before Idul Fitri. Leo Sahertian of the airport operator firm Angkasa Pura I said that from 6 am to 4 pm local time on Saturday the number of passengers was recorded at 1,063, an increase from 846 recorded in the previous year. He said that the increase was boosted by additional flights from Ambon to other cities. Usually, Ambon is catered with 10 airplanes and 12 flights daily but this year there are 14 airplanes with 14 routes. In Kalimantan, hundreds of Idul Fitri travelers packed Samarinda. The passengers, who came from several cities/districts in East Kalimantan, continued to flow and embarked on a ship that had moored at the pier of Samarinda seaport. "They embarked on Peratai Prima II ship which would take them to Parepare, South Sulawesi," Samarinda Police chief Senior Commissioner Akhmad Yusef Gunawan, who inspected the traveler's flow, said early on Sunday. He said that the number of passengers would continue to increase this Sunday. "Now hundreds of passengers have packed the port," he said. The peak of the Idul Fitri traveler's flow was predicted to happen on Wednesday, September 8, 2010, he said. Millions of seasonal passengers travel to their home towns to have family reunions during the annual post-fasting Lebaran holidays. During the Idul Fitri holiday season last year, the number of home-bound travelers reached about 27.25 million, of which 16.2 million used various public transportation modes while the remaining 11.2 million used private cars and motorcycles. ***4*** |