| By Andi Abdussalam |
Jakarta, June 24 (ANTARA) - The Election Supervisory Board (Bawaslu) has called for the discharge of General Election Commission (KPU) member Andi Nurpati under pressure from legislators, the home affairs minister and the public after she was named an associate chair in the ruling Democrat Party (PD). In its written statement on Tuesday, Bawaslu said it had asked the KPU as an independent commission to set up an Ethics Council (DK) to call Andi Nurpati to account and formalize her dishonorable discharge from the KPU for joining a political party. Chairman of House Commission II for home affairs Chairman Harahap said that Nurpati who was named head of the Democrat Party's department of public communication affairs for 2010 - 2015 was no longer fit to remain a KPU member and thus she should resign soon. Harahap who is also a Golkar Party politician said that as a KPU member, Nurpati should maintain independent thoughts, steps and decisions but in reality she had suddenly accepted the position of associate chairperson in the Democrat Party. "Andi Nurpati has breached her oath and degraded her competence as a KPU member. KPU should issue a recommendation soon for her dishonorable dismissal from KPU," former House of Representatives (DPR) member of the Golkar Party Ferry Mursidan Baldan, said. He said that Nurpati's step to join a political party would affect the election commission as an institution and would worsen the declining public trust in KPU as a neutral body in organizing elections in the country. Moreover, Regional Elections Commission (KPUD)s in some provinces in the country were now organizing regional head elections. This would worsen the public trust in the KPUDs. "Nurpati should resign soon because otherwise it means that she is holding two posts concurrently," Baldan who is also a former House Commission II chairman said. Law No. 22 / 2007 on General Elections stipulates that KPU members are not allowed to hold other posts. They even are not allowed to be named a minister. Therefore, Home Affairs Minister Gamawan Fauzi said that Nurpati should resign from the KPU in order to maintain the independence of the election body. "She has to resign so that (the KPU) will remain a good and just jury," the home affair minister. He said that when the recruitment of KPU members for the 2009 general elections was done it was agreed that KPU members might not affiliate to a political party in an effort to maintain the independence of KPU. The independence spirit must be preserved and Nurpati should resign. He said that although there was no specific regulation on the banning of a KPU member to be involved in practical politics, yet in view of morality Nurpati should resign as soon as she joined a political party. "Otherwise, it would serve as a bad precedence. All KPU members could follow suit," Minister Gamawan Fauzi said. In this respect, the Bawaslu has recommended that KPU set up an Honorary Council to process and dismiss Nurpati dishonorly. It said that Nurpati had violated Article 11, paragraph b and Article 13 of the KPU Regulation No. 31 / 2008 on the General Election Codes of Ethics. She has also breached her oath as a KPU member as regulated in Article 28, paragraph 2, Law No. 22 / 2007 on the Implementation of General Elections. Bawaslu chairman Nur Hidayat Sardini said Nurpati was suspected to have taken sides with a political party. She was believed to have given priority to her own or group interests rather than to the interest of the state based on her oath when she was installed as a KPU member. So, Bawaslu recommended that she be discharged dishonorably. In the meantime, Andi Nurpati responded to the Bawaslu recommendation, saying it was odd. She said the recommendation was dated June 17, 2010 while she was asked to provide clarifications on June 18, 2010. One day later, the Bawaslu issued a letter about supportive evidence for its recommendation on the formation of the Ethics Council. "In my opinion, the Bawaslu's letter had been prepared before I was asked to make a clarifications. The Bawaslu had made a decision even before I made a clarification," she said at her office in the KPU building. She said that the Bawaslu recommendation should be issued after all clarification processes had been completed. Therefore, Nurpati said she believed there were external influences that led the Bawaslu to issue the recommendation. Nurpati said that the last point of the Bawalu letter mentioned Bawaslu's expectation that the Ethics Council be set up in a not-too-distant future because it constituted a follow-up to a political decision made ar a hearing with the House Commission II. "I think there is no regulation which requires the KPU or Bawaslu to follow up a political decision. The conclusion of a Commission II hearing is only a reference," Nurpati said. However, Nurpati said she respected the Bawaslu's decision even if she found something odd in the Bawalu's letter of recommendation. "I will take the opportunity to make clarifications if the KPU sets up an Ethics Council," she said. |
Selasa, 22 Juni 2010
ANDI NURPATI URGED TO RESIGN FROM ELECTION BODY
Sabtu, 19 Juni 2010
CATFISH GETTING NATIONAL 'RECOGNITION'
Jakarta, June 19 (ANTARA) - At least two tons of catfish were unloaded at the east parking lot of the Jakarta Senayan Sports Stadium this weekend, not to feed football match spectators but to get 'recognition' as one of the country's food resilience commodities.
Catfish, locally called 'lele' is a very popular dish served in various food stalls beginning from roadside food tents to luxury restaurants.
Affordable by the lower segment of society, the most popular type of this fish dish is "pecel lele," or fried lele served with chilli sauce and vegetables.
As if coming out of the blue, people flocked to the Senayan parking lot on Saturday where different kinds of lele were displayed or served like boiled and fried lele shredded meat and pecel lele.
People came to the parking lot as it was the venue of a "Grand Catfish Festival 2010". No less than First Lady Ani Yudhoyono also attended the festivity.
When she inaugurated the event, she declared catfish as one of the country's food resilience commodities, calling on people to eat the protein-rich fish and encourage the cultivation of the fresh water fish.
"I have one grandchild and I want to teach her to eat lele when she has reached the age of five years," she said.
At the inauguration of the "Grand Catfish Festival 2010," the First Lady said the food resilience program should not be measured from carbohydrate content only but also from the availability of protein content, and catfish was rich in protein.
Catfish, according to Ani Yudhoyono, not only contained 17 percent protein but was also low in cholesterol, had a delicious flavor. "Catfish prices are low making it affordable by common people. Lele or catfish is one of the country's food resilience commodities," Ani said.
To enliven the catfish festival, a total of 37 stalls of 'pecel lele joined forces to sell one ton of "pecel lele" worth Rp6.000 per package. Some 600 kilogram (kg) of live catfish was put up for sale directly to the public at the price of Rp7.000 per kg.
"About 400 kg of catfish will be used for cooking demonstrations that will be followed by 150 participants from the Greater Jakarta area," Soen'an Hadi Purnomo of the Maritime and Fisheries Affairs (KKP) said.
In order to meet the need for catfish at the festival, the Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries had supplied two tons of catfish to be sold to the public at a low price.
Soen'an Hadi Purnomo, who is head of Data Center for Statistics and Information (Pusdatin) of KKP, said the two tons of catfish were donated by the Directorate General of Fisheries and Aquaculture.
"Some of the catfish will be sold live, some after being cooked, and some parts for the purposes of cooking demos," he said.
According to First Lady Ani Yudhoyono, catfish-related exhibitions will also feature the festival which was held from June 19 to 20 at the Parking Lot of the Bung Karno Sports Stadium in Senayan.
The public could get various kinds of information ranging from technical catfish cultivation, feed, until processed catfish.
Another interesting thing was the holding of special business meeting to bring together catfish farmers and entrepreneurs.
Some stakeholders such as PT Alang-alang from Boyolali, abon (boiled and fried shredded meat) catfish producers, "Cat Fish Club", Lele Lela, Department of Marine Fisheries in Yogyakarta and Central Java, to the catfish feed companies took part in the festival
Ani said cultivating catfish ponds did not require extensive land. After all, catfish has strong resistance against moody water making its cultivation much easier and offering opportunities that could improve the people's welfare.
For the purpose, Ani urged the Civil Servant Wives Organization (PKK) in the regions throughout the country to encourage backyard cultivation of catfish.
"Raise catfish in the yards for both own consumption and for sale. So this catfish can make families healthy and prosperous," she said.
Even in Jakarta which has a dense population and limited land, catfish farming can be run, Ani said.
At the event, organized by the Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, Ani also called on the entire community to change their outlook that often saw catfish as an unhealthy food product.
Moreover, Ani also urged parents to teach their children to eat fish which had high protein in an effort to improve the quality of human resources.
The catfish festival is intended to improve the image of cultured fish which is often considered as not clear but a clean fish which is safe and healthy for consumption and could improve the intelligence and welfare of the people.
The catfish festival includes such activities as business meetings which bring together catfish entrepreneurs. It also presents cooking competitions for various kinds of catfish menus.
Exhibitions on various kinds of processed catfish food products ranging from catfish abon (shredded meat), catfish crisp, pecel lele to catfish soup.
National production of catfish in 2008 reached 114,371 tons, and in 2009 it increased nearly 75 percent to around 200 thousand tons.
The Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries has set itself a target of an increase catfish production by 450 percent to 900 thousand tonnes in 2014.
Catfish is a popular fish species in communities that has a significant growth of approximately 32 percent per annum during the period 2005-2009.
The national consumption of catfish in 2009 only reached 30.17 kg per capita per year, still below the recommended 31.40 kg per capita per year.
The Grand Catfish Festival aims to encourage the development of the catfish industry in Indonesia, particularly in the marketing aspect and encourage the development of catfish consumption in the community.***2***
(T.A014/A/HAJM/19:20/. ..) June 19, 2010
Kamis, 17 Juni 2010
JAKARTA TO CONTINUE COAST RECLAMATION PLAN AMID PROTESTS
Jakarta, June 17 (ANTARA) - The Jakarta administration will proceed with its planned coastal reclamation project which is expected to increase Jakarta's land areas by 2,700 hectares in the north but is being opposed by environmentalists who claim that the project will destroy the ecosystem and worsen annual flooding.
"The land reclamation plan is to be carried out to respond to the rapid growth of Jakarta's population which has now reached nine million," Peni Susanti, head of the Jakarta Environment Management Agency (BPLHD), said Wednesday.
However, environmental activists called on the Jakarta government to stop the reclamation to help protect the environment. After all, the Supreme Court (MA) has ruled in favor of an appeal by the office of the environment minister over a lower court decision which allowed the continuation of the project.
"The Jakarta government should respect the MA decision and execute the verdict together with the office of the minister of environment," Norkholis Hidayat of the Jakarta Bay Salvaging Movement Coalition said.
Peni Susanti however argued that land reclamation would not damage the environment if it was preceded by an evaluation based on strategic environmental studies. The Jakarta city government's reclamation plan called for the creation of small islands at locations determined through hydrodynamic studies off Jakarta's northern coast, and not the expansion of the coastal land.
The material to be used to create the small islands, estimated to reach 330 million cubic meters, would be the mud derived from Jakarta river dredging projects. "The basic construction material will come from river dredging works but we have not yet found a solution for the islands' top soil (upper layer)," Peni said.
How to form the islands' top soil was a more difficult problem because it must contain a high dose of nutrients to enable plants to grow on it. she said. "With a bad top soil, no plants can grow maximally, and that is what we are thinking about now," Peni said.
Peni Susanti said land reclamation was a normal practice to overcome spatial scarcity problems in other countries such as China, Singapore and the Netherlands.
"In China, Singapore, and the Netherlands, land reclamation was done because the population had reached a city's maximum capacity, and without converting productive areas into public housing sites," she said.
On the reclaimed land, a waterfront city is expected to be developed, which includes an industrial center, business, transportation and office complex facilities.
However, Jakarta has a difficult topographic area which is crisscrossed by 13 rivers that run down from mountainous areas to the sea. Thus, during the rainy season Jakarta is always hit by floods. Moreover, the reclamation project is viewed to disturb the ecosystem of the north Jakarta's waters.
Therefore, environmentalists urged the regional government to stop reclaiming its northern coastal areas based on the Supreme Court (MA)'s recent appellate decision.
According to Norkholis Hidayat, the Jakarta government should respect the MA decision and execute the verdict. He said that the Jakarta government seemed to be arrogant because regardless of the MA ruling, it continued to reclaim the northern coastal area, it even supported the efforts by six companies to ask for a review of the MA decision.
"If the Jakarta regional government is a law-abiding one, it should have stopped the coastal area reclamation. But it continued to do it. This is proof that the Jakarta regional government is taking sides with the companies and economic activities rather than with the life of fishermen and the sustainability of coastal areas," Slamet Dayroni, chairman of the Indonesia Green Institute, said meanwhile.
The MA ruling reinforced the environment ministerial decree No. 14/2003 which stipulated that based on the Environmental Impact Analysis (AMDAL), the reclamation and revitalization project of north Jakarta coastal areas was not environmentally feasible.
With the issuance of the MA verdict, the Jakarta regional government should have stopped the reclamation project which was done by six companies, namely PT Pelabuhan II, PT Pembangunan Jaya Ancol, PT Jakarta Propertindo, PT Manggala Krida Yudha, Bakti Bangun Era Mulia and PT Taman Harapan Indah.
In 2003, the six firms sued the environment minister for its decree which said the north Jakarta coastal area reclamation breached AMDAL regulation. The high court ruled in favor of the six companies, but at the MA, the environment minister won the appeal.
The idea to reclaim the north Jakarta coastal areas surfaced during the New Order government. It was stipulated in Presidential Decree No.17/1994 on the northern coast as a reliable area. One year later, President Soeharto issued Decree No.52/1995 which stipulated that the reclamation would be done in North Jakarta.
The realization of the reclamation project is contained in the Jakarta government bylaw No. 8/1995. However, the environment minister's decree no. 14/2003 said the reclamation could not be done until its environmental impact analysis (AMDAL) stated the project is feasible.
Thus, in 2004, President Megawati Soekarnoputri asked Jakarta governor Sutiyoso to review the-Rp20 trillion-worth reclamation project which stretched 32 km along the Jakarta northern coast.
Now that the regional government is to proceed with the project, environmental activists asked it to obey the MA verdict. (T.A014/A/HAJM/14:20/... ) June 17, 2010Senin, 14 Juni 2010
GOVT'S POWER RATE INCREASE PLAN FACING OPPOSITION
| By Andi Abdussalam |
Jakarta, June 15 (ANTARA) - Amid a discourse to provide the poor with free electricity, the government's plan to increase the basic electricity tariff (TDL) by an average of 10 percent beginning next month has been opposed by some quarters, including political parties, legislators and students. A national student movement on Monday called on all students and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in the country to reject the government's plan to increase power rates. Besides students, at least two political parties also voiced their disagreement to the plan. The two are the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDIP) and the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS). The two parties are of the view that the government had better optimize the efficiency of its production cost and raw material expenditure. "The PDIP faction in the House disagrees with the government's plan to raise the TDL rates. We think that the government should first optimize the efficiency of its production cost and raw material expenditure," associate chairman of PDIP Effendi Simbolon said at the Parliament building on Monday. Effendi explained that PDIP understood the government calculations to raise the TDL rates for power customers of over 1,200 kilowatts categories in the 2010 revised state budget but for the 6,300 kilowatts the price already exceeded the economic viability. "So, we want that the government to maximize its efficiency in the first place because we can see a strong cartel in the supply of fuel oils who controls raw materials," Effendi, who is also deputy chairman of Commission VII of the House of Representatives (DPR) on energy affairs, said. He said the production cost for one kilowatt was six cents if gas was used and 25 cents if other kinds of fuels were used. "The government should use gas for the production of electricity. But this is a cartel (so that it does not use gas), or should we disclose the cartel?" said Effendi. So far the use of fuel oils in the power production has caused the government to provide a subsidy of Rp56.1 trillion, while actually the subsidy could be reduced to Rp15 trillion if the government used gas. "This is squandering. We can actually save on Rp35 trillion, but as if the government has turned a blind eye," he said. PKS legislator at the House Commission VII Achmad Rilvadi shared the PDIP lawmaker's view. "PKS has officially rejected the government's plan to increase the TDL. It has submitted its notes of objection," Achmad said. Achmad said his party had suggested that the government should maximize its efficiency first. "The government should carry out efficiency before hand," he added. In the meantime, a national student movement has called for the rejection of the government plan to increase power rates. "We, on behalf of the Indonesian Nationalist Students Movement (GMNI), together with other Indonesian student groups, hereby declare that we reject the government's plan to increase electricity tariffs and the prices of gas and other fuels. The plan disregards the economic plight of the majority of the Indonesian people," Cokro Wibowo, the GMNI secretary general, said on Monday. He said the plan to raise the power rates and fuel oil prices would disadvantage the majority of the Indonesian people who were still living under the poverty line. The government should not equalize or compare the present prices of these three commodities with their market prices. "The lifting of subsidies for electricity, fuel oils and gas will put a heavy financial burden on the people. We should be pro-people, not pro-neocolonialism and liberalism," he said. Cokro Wibowo called on the government to learn a lesson from India and China. "India and China are an empirical example of countries which have become more developed than us. Their economies are growing rapidly due to the prices of fuels, electricity and gas which are set at a lower level," he said. When Indonesia introduced large-scale subsidies in 2008, Indonesia's economy grew very rapidly. "This means that if they are empowered, protected and given attention, including providing them with subsidies, the Indonesian people will be able to improve their welfare, increase their productivity and in the end help boost the country's economic growth," he said. While the opposition is being voiced, the government is still undecided on the new electricity rates it will apply to certain categories of consumers though it is certain the average tariff is to be raised by 10 percent starting July 1, 2010. "Based on the law on the state budget, the basic power rates will be raised by an average of 10 percent effective July 1, 2010. But the options for tariff increases for certain customer categories still have to be discussed with the House of Representatives (DPR)," Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM) Minister Darwin Zahedy Saleh said Monday. The government has already prepared a number of options for the basic power rate increases. According to one of these options, the government will raise the electricity rate for customers in the 450 - 900 VA category to Rp2,000 -Rp3,000 and those in the 900-1300 VA category to Rp5,000-Rp6,000. "Our aim is to have all electricity customers share and care, particularly those who enjoy the biggest portion of the electricity subsidy, namely customers in the 450-900 VA category," the minister said. He said the tariff increase was important to enable electricity firm PLN to increase its capacity so that the area covered by electricity in Indonesia can be widened. "At present, only about 70 percent of the area is covered. It means there is still 30 percent of the population or about 53 million people who still do not have access to electricity," the minister said. In the meantime, data of the Ministry of Energy and Mineral resources obtained by the press showed that government has one option where it would not increase the tariff for 450-900 VA customer categories while in the other one it would increase the basic tariff for these categories by 5 percent. It also has two options, raise or not to raise the tariffs for the 6,600 VA and above category consumers. For household consumers, there are two alternatives: an increase by 18 percent and or 15 percent. For business customers the options is whether an increase of 12-16 percent or of 12-15 percent, while for industry a increase of 6-15 percent or of 6.13 percent become an alternative. The average increase by 10 percent is intended to cover the subsidy shortage of Rp4.8 trillion in the 2010 revised state budget which has set a total subsidy of Rp55.1 trillion. ***2*** |
GOVT WARY OF 'FREE ELECTRICITY FOR POOR' PROPOSITION
| By Andi Abdussalam |
Jakarta, June 14 (ANTARA) - State-owned power utility company PLN president director Dahlan Iskan has come up with the idea to provide low-income people with electricity free of charge but the proposal has been met with cautious responses from the government and the House of Representatives. "The proposition is well-meant and could be a solution, but I cannot yet respond to it in either a negative or positive way. I have to look at its assessment first. What is meant by 'free of charge'," Chief Economic Minister Hatta Rajasa said on Monday. The coordinating minister for economic affairs said the idea which was raised by the PLN president director to free poor people from electricity bills needed to be further studied. The same cautious stance was also adopted by the House of Representatives DPR). Since the proposal has not yet been submitted to the parliament, the DPR is not yet available to give its response. "The discourse to make electricity free for the 450-VA customers has not yet been officially proposed by the government to the House of Representatives (DPR). Therefore, House Commission VII is not yet available to give an official response," Effendi Simbolon, deputy chairman of the House Commission VII on energy affairs, said. Dahlan Iskan on Saturday proposed providing poor people in the country with electricity free of charge, and the rest of the population according to the market price. "I am serious, I made the proposal in Parliament yesterday (Friday). The government has not yet responded because they think I was joking. I was not," Dahlan said at a public discussion on the basic electricity tariff, organized by non-governmental organization Forkem and the economic affairs coordinating ministry at Pulau Bidadari over the weekend. In response to the proposal, the government reacted with cautious response. According to Minister Hatta Rajasa, the government should be cautious in considering the proposal. It should be deliberated thoroughly before a decision on it could be taken. "I hesitate to agree or not to agree. We have to be careful in this case," Hatta Rajasa said. After all, at present the discourse on the basic power rate increase by 10 percent and the restriction of electricity subsidy for industry had raised public protests and opposition. Thus, the (free electricity) proposal still needed to be further studied. Previously, Dahlan Iskan explained his idea about his proposal. He said by "poor people" he meant citizens with a power facility of 450 Kwh whose number all over Indonesia was estimated at 20 million. The homes of these people on average had five lights, a television set, a radio, a VCD player, a rice cooker, an electric fan and iron. With these 20 million PLN customers paying zero rupiah for electricity and the rest of the population paying their electricity bills according to the market price, PLN would still make a profit, he said. By giving poor people free access to electricity, PLN would lose an income of about Rp1.5 trillion but its earnings from the rest of the population, charged according to electricity's market price, would increase by Rp20 trillion. "If we are so cruel as to make the poor segment of the population also pay according to the market price, PLN's income would rise by Rp40 trillion," he said. Dahlan said his idea was a concrete proposal to help the poor and meant to answer those who opposed increasing the electricity rates on the ground it would make the poor suffer. He said PLN had so far always been suffering losses and needing government subsidy to cover its production cost of Rp1,200 per KwH while it was selling its electricity for an average of only Rp650 per KwH. An increase of only 10 percent in electricity rates would not stop its losses nor free it from dependence on government subsidy. In his response to the matter on Monday, House Speaker Marzuki Alie said that freeing the poor from the obligation to pay for the electricity they consumed was not good for the government's campaign to promote efficient energy consumption. "If the PLN is willing to reduce the burden of poor people, it should not provide them with electricity free of charge but with subsidized power or power at a special rate," the House Speaker said. Poor people who are PLN customers in the R1 category should be given a subsidy through a special tariff so that they could be educated in energy efficiency. Moreover, the dicourse on free electricity for the poor was difficult to realize because the cost of electricity procurement was very high. "If the idea is realized it will cause the poor to forget the government's campaign to enourage people to consume energy efficiently," Alie, a former secretary general of the ruling Democrat Party (PD), said. After all, according to Commission VII deputy chairman Effendi Simbolon, the plan is unlikely to solve the problems being faced by PLN, but switch them to other customers. "As long as the cost from the R1 customers is not borne by other customer categories, the free electricity proposal is OK. But if it is referred to other customers, it would only create a new problem," Effendi Simbolon. So far, the cost burden for the 450 VA customers was Rp1.4 trillion per annum. But Simbolon said that the discourse to make electricity free for the 450-Va customers had not yet been officially proposed by the government to the House of Representatives DPR. Therefore, Commission VII is not yet available to give official response. "I need to say that Mr Dahlan raised the issue spontaneously because he was frustrated by the many constraints he is facing in the PLN management," Effendi said. He said that the PLN director should have expressed his frustration to the government because it was not able to solve the problem immediately. "If Dahlan has challenged the DPR, he has made a mistake because he should have aimed his challenge to the President so that he would soon provide a solution to the PLN problem," the legislator said.***2*** |
Sabtu, 12 Juni 2010
PALM OIL INDUSTRY SEEKING CLARITY ON MORATORIUM
| By Andi Abdussalam |
Jakarta, June 12 (ANTARA) - The government's plan to impose a moratorium on developmental activity on peat land and primary forest areas as a follow-up to an Indonesia-Norway forest conservation agreement has prompted the oil palm plantation business community to ask for official clarity on which areas can or cannot be developed. "We support the government's plan to impose a moratorium on the opening up of peat lands but we expect very much that the government would provide a clear stipulation on which areas can be developed and which cannot," Widya Wiryawan, president director of PT Astra Agro Lestari said on Saturday. Earlier, the government said it would not allow development of oil palm plantations on peat land in an effort to increase palm oil production. "No further development of oil palm plantations will be allowed on peat land or primary forests," Agriculture Minister Suswono said on Friday. He said the government would focus on increasing the productivity of current plantations rather than conducting expansions. The agriculture minister said the government had so far produced licenses for the development of 9.8 million hectares of oil palm plantations in the country but so far only 7.9 million hectares had been realized and so 1.9 million hectares more still had to be developed. In this case, the oil palm industry has asked the government to be more explicit about its plan to impose the moratorium on oil palm development on peat lands. According to Widya Wirawan, the oil palm industry at home supported the proposal of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to declare a moratorium on oil palm development so that natural forest and peat land could be sustained. He said the moratorium was actually intended for the issuance of new licenses for development of oil palm plantations on peat lands and primary forests. Besides, the moratorium would be effective only after January 2011, and basically national oil palm industries would not question the regulations the government was going to issue provided there were clear stipulations. Wiryasan said it had often happened that central government regulations did not match those issued by regional governments causing confusion among businessmen. Virtually, he said, the acreage of existing oil palm plantations in the country was far smaller than the available forest land. The country's oil palm plantations covered only seven million hectares while the acreage of forest areas reached 100 million hectares. "After all, oil palm plantation development in Indonesia began much later than the logging business or forest concession businesses that have existed for a long time," he said. In view of that, Minister Suswono said the planned moratorium of oil palm plantation development in 2011-2013 would not disrupt national crude palm oil production. The minister said the ban on oil palm plantation development on peat land was effective only for new license holders while those that have held the license before the issuance of the ban could still implement development but must follow the regulation on peat land oil palm plantation development. Based on the regulation oil palm plantation development could only be carried on less than three-meter thick peat lands. The minister said the productivity of oil palm plantations right now is only 2.5 tons per hectare which is still below that of Malaysia which reaches 4 tons per hectare. He said if productivity could be increased to equal that of Malaysia national crude palm oil production could increase twice higher than now. With total oil palm plantations now recorded at 7.3 million hectares Indonesia could produce 21.5 million tons of palm oil. In 2020 the country expects to increase production to 40 million tons. Speaking at a press conference on the sidelines of a forestry and climate Conference at Holmenkollen Park, Rica Hotel, in Oslo recently, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said Indonesia would not stop its palm oil production. He was referring to the Indonesia-Norway forest conservation agreement. "We already have our own plan to fulfill the obligation which has become our part in the cooperation between Indonesia and Norway in reducing our emissions from deforestation and forest degradation," the president said. But Indonesia would not stop its palm oil production, neither would it indiscriminately open up new forests for that purpose. Indonesia had taken a policy to use degraded land for the continuation of its oil palm industry. According to Minister Suswono, the most important thing to do now is finding new markets so that Indonesia would not depend too much on Europe. In addition, the government will soon apply Indonesia Sustainable Palm Oil (ISPO) standards nationwide to sharpen the competitive edge of the commodity in the international market. "I have heard ISPO will be made mandatory. So far, RSPO (Roundtable for Sustainable Palm Oil) has been applied voluntarily," Deputy Trade Minister Mahendra Siregar said meanwhile. He said the agriculture minister had completed the initial draft of ISPO. The draft had been distributed among various parties for inputs. "I hope the process will go on so that the ISPO can be issued in the not too distant future," he said.***2*** |
Jumat, 11 Juni 2010
INDONESIA GOING GREEN
| By Andi Abdussalam |
Jakarta, June 12 (ANTARA) - In an effort to create a clean and healthy environment and overcome climate change, the Indonesian government is implementing a green concept and called on various businesses to apply it as part of their attempt to achieve their emission reduction program by 26 percent by 2020. "Development efforts in Indonesia must implement the Green Development or Green Economy concepts which are in essence friendliness to the environment," Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Hatta Radjasa said over the weekend. He said Indonesia's development efforts are facing three big challenges, namely food and energy sufficiency and provision of efficient energy supplies but to meet all these, development efforts must be carried out based on a green concept to balance economic growth with environmental conservation. "Therefore, the Green Economy concept is suitable for application in Indonesia's development projects," he said. The minister made the remarks after attending the topping off of Grand Royal Panghegar Apartment which implemented the Green Economy concept in Bandung, West Java. On the occasion Hatta expressed his appreciation to the Grand Royal Pangegar owner for having implemented the concept. "I will report it to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, about this," he said. President Yudhoyono said on Thursday the government must prioritize green economic development strategy which is environment friendly in order to prevent ecosystem degradation that demands big rehabilitation cost. It must implement triple-track-plus-one economic strategy, namely pro growth, pro job, pro poor, plus pro environment. Therefore, Indonesia will continue to develop a green economic concept in an effort to improve the welfare of its people and overcome the threat of climate change. "The green economy has become a kind of new economic ideology in the world in the 21st century," the President said. Green economy is needed because the world today is facing a great challenge from climate change the impact of which is already being felt with the emergence of a number of crises in the world such as food, energy and water crises. "Green economy is a life style in the world and in Indonesia, a system which does not exploit to the full extent the energy and natural resources," he said. He said the environmental aspect must not be forgotten in the economic development, or otherwise the rehabilitation works to improve the damaged environment might reach 20 percent of the GDP. "There is an interesting article, which writes that economic-driven national development which ignoring the environment, in the long term, will cost 20 percent of the GDP for rehabilitating damaged environment. We should be aware of that," he said. Therefore, the green concept must be applied in carrying out various development programs, including the tourism, property development and the real sectors besides other sectors such as transportation. Many business sectors have responded to the green concept. In the tourism sector, some hotels and aviation have implemented it. The Indonesian National Air Carriers Association (INACA) has the "Green Energy" program to reduce gas emissions from airplanes. Transportation Minister Freddy Numberi said he supported the Green Energy campaign in the transportation sector, especially in air transportation, as it would help mitigate the impact of global warming. "By applying the Green Energy concept, gas emission in Indonesia could be cut by up to 26 percent by 2020," Numberi said when talking on the sidelines of an INACA meeting. Every airline operator should contribute to the success of the program, he said. INACA Chairman Emirsyah Satar, concurrently president director of Garuda Indonesia airways, said Garuda has officially become one of 15 airlines in the world that have joined the carbon offsetting effort. Aviation industry growth in Indonesia is now the third highest in the world after China and India, according to Satar. Indonesia's plan to reduce gas emissions by 26 percent until 2020 will cost around Rp400 trillion. "We hope not all of the funds will have to come from the government. The figure is dynamic or can still change," the secretary of the state minister for national development planning, Sjahrial Loetan, said meanwhile. Some hotels have also followed suit. The Bali Hotels Association (BHA), a group of over 100 star-rated hotels in Bali held an environment workshop at Kuta's Hard Rock Hotel, as a part of series to provide a new concept of green for everyone. "The workshop contributes to BHA's endeavors to furthermore educate and train its employees as part of its social responsibility to provide a better and cleaner future for all local communities", Gareth Warne, BHA Director of Environment, and GM of Nusa Lembongan Resort & Sail Sensations Catamaran, said in Denpasar, recently. During eight lectures over 100 participants had been informed of practical hands on solutions on saving energy, water management, recycling, carbon offset, and green corporate social responsibility programs. In the property sector, the office of the Ministry of People's Housing is drawing a regulation on incentives for developers which support the green property development concept. "We are preparing it as part of our commitment to facing the global climate change challenge," Iskandar Saleh, secretary to the Minister for People?s Housing, said. The government is also planning to provide certification for the buildings or housings built by developers who are able to apply the eco-green or green property concept. In this case, the Jakarta Garden City (JGC) is determined to build 9,000 houses within 10-15 years ahead with the green property concept. "We have strong determination to develop these houses with the green property concept in line with the appreciation we received from the international real estate federation (FIABCI) in Bali recently," said President Director of JGC Lim Seng Bin. In the telecommunications sector, Telkomsel has also gone green. Telkomsel is a telecommunications operator which has the biggest number of go-green base transceiver stations (BTS), or 132 bts in Southeast Asia. "Of the 132 units of BTS, some 20 BTS are already developed with the go-green concept, of which 14 BTS are using solar cells and six others using fuel cells," Regional General Manager Network Operation of Telkomsel for North Sumatra Moelqy Furqan said.***3*** |