'TOUR DE TIMOR' TO COMBINE SPORTS AND TOURISM

By Andi Abdussalam

Jakarta, Nov 26 (Antara) - One of the sectors that contribute to a country's economic development is tourism, which is now being combined with working out as a lifestyle exercised to maintain health.          Tourism has included sports events to attract tourists. These two things are important for tourism development in any countries, including Indonesia and Timor Leste, in what is called sports tourism. Sports tourism, among others, covers running or marathon, biking and rock climbing events at specific tourism destinations.           As part of its efforts to promote and advance its tourism sector, Indonesia is now active in developing its sports tourism through the launch of various sports events such as running, cycling and rock climbing in its tourism destinations.          Especially in the cycling events, it has organized several cycling races in various regions such as the Tour de Singkarak in West Sumatra, Tour de Makassar in South Sulawesi, Tour de Siak in Riau, Tour de Borobudur in Central Java and even Tour de Indonesia, which was halted for five years and is now back again.          At the end of this month, Indonesia is planning to organize a cycling race to promote its tourism sector.          East Nusa Tenggara Province, which shares borders with Timor Leste, will be hosting the 2016 Tour de Timor cycling race championship from November 30 to December 4.

EAT MORE FISH, REDUCE BEEF IMPORTS

by Andi Abdussalam

Jakarta, Nov 25 (Antara) - As Indonesia is rich in fish, it expects the people to become less dependent on imported beef and rather increase their fish consumption.          Deputy Chairman of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) Mahyudin called on the government to encourage fish consumption, as it would reduce the dependence on meat imports.          The Industry Ministry also advocated encouraging  fish consumption in various regions. "We will boost fish consumption, apart from exporting fish, by developing the traditional fish industry," Industry Minister Airlangga Hartarto said recently.          The government continues to encourage people to consume more fish and has set a target to increase the country's per capita fish consumption to about 43.88 kilogram (kg) per annum from 30.47 kg recorded in 2010 and 41.11 kg in 2015.         Indonesia still imports about 40 percent of its beef needs for domestic consumption. Its domestic need for meat has reached about 600 thousand tons per annum or about 4 million heads of cattle.

GOVT TO LIFT SUBSIDY FOR 900 VA ELECTRICITY CUSTOMERS

By Andi Abdussalam

Jakarta, Nov 24 (Antara) - Indonesia's Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry (ESDM) will effect a 32 percent electricity tariff increase every two months from January to May 2017 for 900 Volt Ampere (VA) power customers.        The increased electricity tariff will take effect after the government scrapped the subsidy for better-off customers of 900 VA power in three phases by raising the tariff  from Rp585/kWh to Rp747/kWh next January,   to Rp1,032/kWh next March and to Rp1,352/kWh next May.        Thus, with effect from May 2017, there will be no longer subsidy for economically capable 900 VA electricity customers while the remaining 4.1 million poor household customers will still enjoy one.      So far, the government has subsidized the electricity consumption of 23 million 900VA power costomers. Of the number, 18.9 million customers will no longer receive subsidy while the remaining 4.1 million poor household customers will still enjoy one.         The decision to abolish the subsidy for 900 VA household customers was reached in a working meeting between the Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources and Commission VII on energy affairs of the House of Representatives (DPR) on September 22, 2016.        Head of the Communication and Knowledge Management Unit of the National Poverty Elimination Acceleration Team (TNP2K) Ruddy Gobel had said last week (Nov 18) that the subsidy was actually being enjoyed predominantly by a relatively rich group of people.         So far, the government had been providing subsidy for 450 VA and 900 VA electricity customers. According to Gobel, the number of 450 VA power customers reached 22.8 million while 900 VA customers numbered 22.3 million. Thus, the total number of electricity subsidies' recipients was 45.1 million.

GOVT MIXES OPTIMISM WITH PRUDENCE ON ISSUE OF GROWTH

By Andi Abdussalam

Jakarta, Nov 24 (Antara) - The government is mixing optimism with prudence in forecasting and assuming the rate of economic growth in the state budget for 2017, which is lower than what many institutions predicted.         According to Finance Minister Sri Mulyani, as quoted on the Finance Ministry's website http://www.kemenkeu.go.id, on Wednesday, the government has assumed the economic growth for 2017 at 5.1 percent.         The government's prediction of 5.1 percent growth reflects a balance between optimism and pragmatic understanding. "There is optimism because we are convinced we will be able to maintain the momentum. We balanced it with some prudence because there are external or even internal challenges that we would have to face," Finance Minister Sri Mulayani Indrawati said while addressing a seminar on Indonesia Economic Outlook 2017 in Jakarta on Wednesday.        Moreover, household consumption is expected to grow by 5 percent while government expenditure is predicted to remain stable around 4.8 percent. Besides, investment by the private sector and the capital market is forecast to be better than last year.

PEOPLE ADVISED NOT TO HEED RUMORS OF MONEY RUSH

by Andi Abdussalam

Jakarta, Nov 22 (Antara) - The people are advised not to heed or be influenced by rumors about a money rush, being spread by instigators who want to destabilize the country's economy and create chaos.          According to National Police Chief General Tito Karnavian, such rumors were being spread via the social media, and termed these as a hoax. Those spreading such rumors want to destabilize the country's economy to create chaos, he added.          Now, the security situation in the country is stable and people should not react on the basis of rumors about any money rush.          The Financial Service Authority (OJK) and the Indonesian central bank, Bank Indonesia (BI), also gave similar calls. The OJK advised the public not to be influenced by rumors about massive withdrawals of deposits from banks or money rush on November 25, 2016.          The OJK assured that the financial condition of national banks will remain good and will be monitored continuously. "We always monitor the banking conditions from time to time," OJK Director for Banking Supervision, Jasmi, noted in Jambi on Monday.

'TOUR DE INDONESIA' IS COMING BACK

by Andi Abdussalam

Jakarta, Nov 22 (Antara) - The Central Executive Board of the Indonesian Sports Cycling Association (PB ISSI) will revive Indonesia's prestigious cycling race 'Tour de Indonesia' (TdI), by organizing it again next year, after five years of hiatus.          Scheduled to be held in July 2017, the TdI, which usually starts from Jakarta to Bali, will cover a route of seven stages from Banten in the western part of Java to Banyuwangi in the easternmost region of the island.         "The TdI is designed to become an archipelagic cycling race series and serve as a benchmark for other regions which have cycling tour programs in Indonesia such as the 'Tour de Singkarak', 'Tour de Siak' and others," PB ISSI General Chairman Raja Sapta Oktohari said after the soft launch of the TdI last week (Nov 9).          The TdI will be the biggest cycling event in Indonesia. Its soft launching was held first to ensure that it would be organized after five years. It will be held in July 2017 to coincide with the National Championship schedule of the Union Cycliste Internationale/International Cycling Union (UCI).

INDONESIA TO FOCUS ON SPORTS TOURISM DEVELOPMENT

by Andi Abdussalam

Jakarta, Nov 21 (Antara) - Indonesia is developing its sports tourism through the launch of running, biking and rock climbing events in tourism destinations, as part of its efforts to promote and advance its tourism sector.         According to Youth and Sports Minister Imam Nahrawi, all of the 34 provinces in Indonesia are encouraged to organize sports events in tourism resorts for the development of sports tourism destinations.         The Youth and Sports Ministry will encourage all provinces in the country, apart from the 10 provinces being designed as primary tourist destinations, to organize sports events such as biking in tourism destinations from next year.          "In 2017, we will encourage all provinces to develop sports tourism. The sports tourism in the country has shown good development from year to year," Nahrawi said on Sunday (Nov 20).          For example, the provincial government of Central Java continues to organize the Borobudur Marathon event around areas of the Borobudur Buddhist Temple, which is also a main tourist destination in the country.         The minister appreciated the Central Java provincial government for its success in organizing the Bororbudur Marathon every year. This year, the marathon was attended by an extraordinary number of runners.

PEOPLE URGED TO EAT MORE FISH

by Andi Abdussalam

Jakarta, Nov 19 (Antara) - The people are advised to eat more fish, as part of the efforts to increase their nutritional and protein intake, improve their health, bring progress to the fisheries sector and reduce beef imports.          The Industry Ministry encouraged increased consumption of fish in various regions to raise domestic demand for fish, in an effort to boost the maritime and fisheries sector.       "We will boost fish consumption, apart from exports, through developing the traditional fish industry, which would increase the demand in the country's fisheries sector," Industry Minister Airlangga Hartarto said last week.          Besides that, consuming fish could also reduce dependence on beef imports. Deputy Chairman of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) Mahyudin called on the government to encourage fish consumption through various policies by the Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Ministry (KKP). Raising fish consumption would reduce dependence on meat imports.         "The price of beef during the recent Eid Adha festivities was recorded at Rp150 thousand per kilogram, while the price of tongkol (a kind of tuna) fish was only Rp20 thousand per kilogram. But, people still prefer beef because they are too much dependent on it," Mahyudin said on Thursday (Nov 17).

INDONESIA HAS TO RAISE MILK PRODUCTION

by Andi Abdussalam

Jakarta, Nov 18 (Antara) - Indonesia has to increase its fresh milk production to meet its domestic consumption needs, which reach some 7 million liters daily, and to reduce its imports that account for about 80 percent of the needs.         Besides that, it also needs to increase its consumption, as the Indonesian people still consume low amount of milk, accounting for about 12.1 liters per capita per annum.         "Based on the data from the Agriculture Ministry, the per capita milk consumption in 2015 was only 12.1 liters per annum," Legislator Dwita Ria Gunadi said in a written statement in Jakarta last week (Nov 10).          Dwita, of Commission X of the House of Representatives (DPR) said that the government should increase milk production and consumption, because the per capita milk consumption in the country is still lower than other Asian countries.         As of now, Indonesia produces only about 20 percent of the 7 million liters required daily. According to Cooperatives, Small and Medium-Scale Enterprises (SME) Minister Puspayoga, Indonesia must not allow this situation to continue.

GOVT TAKING STEPS TO TACKLE GROWTH OF E-COMMERCE INDUSTRY

by Andi Abdussalam

Jakarta, Nov 11 (Antara) - The volume of e-commerce transactions in Indonesia is still relatively small but the government is taking anticipatory steps in the face of e-commerce industry growth as it is developing as a global trade model.         Indonesia's e-commerce transactions still account for about one to two percent of retailer transactions or much lower than the global average of eight percent. However, it is predicted that e-commerce transactions in Indonesia will increase drastically from US$12 billion in 2014 to about US$24.6 billion this year.         Therefore, the government sees that the e-commerce industry is one of the business sectors that has good prospects in the future, and for this it is issuing an e-commerce development roadmap through an economic policy package.         The roadmap is appearing in the 14th economic policy package announced by the government on Thursday, November 10, 2016.         "The policy package is aimed at encouraging people all over Indonesia to expand their economic activities efficiently and to connect them to the rest of the world. With this roadmap, they will be able to enhance their business in a better way," Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Darmin Nasution said while announcing the package at the Presidential Office along with Communication and Information Minister Rudiantara and Cabinet Secretary Pramono Anung.

LAKES BEING REHABILITATED TO SUPPORT TOURISM

by Andi Abdussalam

Jakarta, Nov 9 (Antara) - Indonesia has 840 reservoirs or lakes which have high economic and ecological value, and it is not only the locals who will benefit from these reservoirs but also foreign tourists who visit them.          However, some of these reservoirs are facing acute problems on account of pollution from domestic waste, floating fish cages, upstream erosion of land and degradation of their biodiversity. At many reservoirs, the water surface is covered by water hyacinth.         Therefore, the government is rehabilitating its lakes and developing infrastructure as part of the efforts to support its priority tourism development program. For the lake rehabilitation program this year the government has set aside a fund of Rp187.5 billion out of its total lake-related infrastructure development funding of  Rp735 billion.         "The Ministry of Public Works and Public Housing (PUPR) has allocated more than Rp735 billion for the development of infrastructure. In line with the function of the PUPR function, we are focusing on the development of infrastructure such as toll roads, bridges and lake rehabilitation around Lake Toba in North Sumatra," Lolly Martina Martief, the operation and maintenance affairs director of the Directorate General of Natural Resources of the Ministry of Public Works and Public Housing, said in Denpasar, Bali, on Wednesday.

STOCKTAKING ON LAND ASSETS AND CERTIFICATION

By Andi Abdussalam

Jakarta, Nov 5 (Antara) - The central government is carrying out land certification throughout the country and encouraging regional administrations to make inventory on land assets.         Data collected through land stocktaking is intended to serve as a basis or data bank, which provides information on land matters such as the need for housing development, including the need for the government's one-million housing development program.         In Indonesia, there are 178 million hectares of land plots, but only about 46 percent of them have been certified. About 90 percent of the certified land plots are in urban areas while the remaining 30 percent are in villages. Therefore, the government is launching the land certification program across the country hoping that by 2025, all land plots would be certified.         According to Chief Economic Minister Darmin Nasution, the land certification is the backbone of the government's financial inclusive strategy because it would enable the people to obtain credits through the government's micro credit scheme (KUR).         "Actually, the KUR credit can be obtained by low-income people without any collateral; yet with certificates, people can get the KUR credits easily," Darmin said on Thursday (Nov 3).

WB AID FOR TOURISM, LOGISTICS INFRASTRUCTURE PROGRAMS

by Andi Abdussalam

Jakarta, Nov 4 (Antara) - The World Bank (WB) has agreed to provide Indonesia with a loan to develop its tourism infrastructure and logistics reform programs respectively worth US$200 million and US$400 million.          The assistance is expected to advance Indonesia's tourist destination development and improve its logistics and connectivity systems.          Considering that tourism is one of the significant contributors to the nation's foreign exchange earnings, the government is focusing on the development of ten priority tourist destinations.          By developing these destinations, the government hopes that the number of foreign tourist arrivals would reach 20 million in 2019. Last year, a total of 10.4 million foreign tourists visited Indonesia.          In order to carry out tourism infrastructure development, particularly the ten main tourist destinations, the government involved the World Bank (WB). This is because Indonesia needs a huge fund to develop the ten priority tourist destinations.          However, the funds obtained from the WB is not adequate to develop the 10 tourist destinations. The WB agreed to provide only US$200 million for the development of three of the ten tourism destinations.

FIGHTING FOR FOOD SELF-SUFFICIENCY

by Andi Abdussalam

Jakarta, Nov 3 (Antara) - As an agriculture country, Indonesia was once self-sufficient in the production of rice, the staple food for its people of 250 million, but now it is importing some of the commodity and is struggling to regain its past glory in rice production.         Through the Ministry of Agriculture, the government has continued to improve regulations deemed to have been impeding Indonesia's efforts to regain its self-sufficiency in rice production.         "We are improving all regulations, which are seen to be hindering the pace towards achieving self-sufficiency in food production," Agriculture Minister Amran Sulaiman said on the sidelines of a function held to observe the 36th World Food Day in Boyolali, Central Java, on Friday last week.         So far, all procurements such as the procurement of high-bred seeds and fertilizers should be carried out through tenders so that efforts to increase food production are often made late.         According to the Agriculture Minister, Indonesia has been  hit by the El Nino and La Nina weather phenomenon for two consecutive years. The challenges faced in 2015 were extraordinary and the heaviest ones along the history of Indonesia with an intensity of 2.44 percent.