GOVT TO MAINTAIN FOOD CROP PRODUCTION TARGET

By Andi Abdussalam

Jakarta, July 16 (Antara) - The government will secure its 4.4 million hectare rice fields from drought and retain its production target of 70.24 million tons of unhusked rice and a surplus of 4.4 million tons of rice this year.          The Ministry of Agriculture is convinced that if efforts are taken to safeguard rice fields from the threat of El Niño-related drought and production is maintained, a surplus of 4.2 million tons will be achieved.          Acting Director General of Food Crops of the Ministry of Agriculture Haryono said on Wednesday that based on the Forecast I figure of the Central Bureau of Statistics (BPS), the country's unhulled rice production this year is estimated at 69.87 million tons.          "The efforts to secure rice plantations will be made through pest organism control (OPT) system, fertilizer supplies, reduction of deprecation in harvest production or losses, and the provision of agricultural equipment," he pointed out.          Stocks of pesticides are now more than adequate to carry out OPT pest control. Likewise, agricultural equipment is also sufficient, such as the procurement of water pumps used in anticipation of the impact of the El Niño weather phenomenon.          The directorate general of food crops has also planned to take satellite images of the existing rice plantations or the standing crops in East Java, Central Java, West Java, and Banten.

MUSLIM CONSUMERS WARNED OF PORK-TAINTED MEAT

By Andi Abdussalam
Jakarta, July 16 (Antara) - Amid increasing need for beef in the face of the post-fasting Idul Fitri festivities or 'Lebaran', Muslim consumers are warned of pork-tainted meat circulating in the market.          Consumption of meat is on the rise in the fasting month of Ramadan, particularly in the face of the Lebaran festivities, yet several consumers failed to distinguish between beef and pork.     As Muslims are not permitted to consume swine meat, they have to exercise caution while buying beef. After all, numerous cases have surfaced wherein beef was mixed with pork before it was sold to consumers in the market.          Beef is adulterated with cheaper wild boar meat that is smuggled from Sumatra to Java and is sold in the traditional markets.          "Seeing an increase in the number of cases of illegal smuggling of swine meat, we can conclude that there are parties who are trying to benefit from the Ramadan fasting month by mixing beef with pork," Agriculture Minister Suswono stated while destroying a total of 7.4 tons of illegal wild boar meat in Cilegon, Banten, on Wednesday.

GOVERNMENT TO PROTECT TRAVELERS FROM TICKET SCALPERS

by Andi Abdussalam

Jakarta, July 15 (Antara) - The period of post-fasting, the Idul Fitri holidays, or Lebaran, where millions of travelers return home for family reunions, has found ticket scalpers reaping profits from would-be passengers.          Passengers who often become the target of scalpers are often those traveling by ship, train or bus. Air transportation is relatively safe from abuse by these middlemen.          The Ministry of Transportation will, therefore, focus its attention on protecting passengers from becoming victims of ticket scalpers by increasing the number of ships and trains available during the holiday period.          The Ministry will also cooperate with  police and other security officials to urge the public to report scalpers to the police.          Further, Transportation Minister EE Mangindaan said that officials and the public should cooperate to stop ticket scalpers who target travelers prior to the post-fasting Idul Fitri festivities.          "Ticket scalper practices are one of the things that have to be fought against by the alert forces of the police and other security officials," the transportation minister said on Monday.

PEOPLE AWAIT REALIZATION OF MARITIME 'TOLL ROAD'

By Andi Abdussalam

Jakarta, July 14 (Antara) - The people, particularly businesspeople, are awaiting the realization of a maritime supercorridor transportation system that will link thousands of Indonesian islands from the eastern to the Western regions, cutting freight costs up to 50 percent.          The concept of the maritime supercorridor has been prepared by the current government in what it calls 'Pendulum Nusantara' (Archipelago Pendulum) program where large tonnage ships with cargoes or passengers serve main sea lanes and call at six major seaports located in areas stretching from the eastern to western parts of the country.          The government hopes the sea corridor will help smooth the implementation of the national connectivity program as regulated in Presidential Instruction No. 26/2013 on National Logistics System.          In a recent presidential debate, presidential candidate Joko Widodo, better known as Jokowi, revealed his program on the sea transportation system, which he called 'Maritime Toll Road' scheme, a sea lane transportation system which is more or less the same as the  'Pendulum Nusantara' concept.          Therefore, the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin) supported the idea of Jokowi to follow up the sea lane development program, as the current maritime-based national connectivity scheme designed to boost economic development and growth has yet to be implemented.

GOVT READY TO SERVE MILLIONS OF 'LEBARAN' TRAVELERS

by Andi Abdussalam

Jakarta, July 12 (Antara) - The government is prepared to provide services for some 24 million people seeking to return to their home towns (mudik) to celebrate 'Lebaran', or the Islamic post-fasting holidays, at the end of this month.          Further, the Ministry of Transportation will provide at least 1,200 ships and increase the frequencies of trains, along with offering additional flights, to serve the post-fasting Idul Fitri holiday revelers.          "In general, all transport operators are ready to provide services to people keen on returning to their native villages for Lebaran, this year," Director General of Land Transportation at the Ministry of Transportation, Suroyo Alimoeso, said.          It is predicted that during this year's Idul Fitri holidays, the number of home-bound travelers, excluding those traveling in their own vehicles, will increase by about 3.83 percent to 19.30 million from 2013, which saw 18.59 million travelers.          The 19.30 million travelers excluded those using their own private vehicles, predicted to reach 4.16 million.

PRABOWO TO TRUST KPU ON ELECTION RESULTS

by Andi Abdussalam

Jakarta, July 10 (Antara) - Presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto said he will rely on the General Elections Commission's (KPU) vote count results more than the quick count results by survey institutions regarding presidential polls on Wednesday (July 9).          Prabowo said the red-and-white coalition (a coalition that had nominated Prabowo-Hatta Rajasa as presidential and vice presidential candidates) will continue to call on its rank and file to remain calm and not to be provoked by other parties.          President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has earlier called on both presidential candidate pairs to refrain from indulging in any actions that might heat up the situation.          President Yudhoyono made the announcement at a press conference in Puri Cikeas, Bogor, Wednesday afternoon, responding to the increasingly heated situation after both candidate pairs, Prabowo-Hatta and Jokowi-JK, had claimed victory based on quick count results.          The unofficial quick counts by various survey institutions, such as SMRC, LSI, Indikator, CSIS-Cyrrus, Kompas, and RRI, showed that the Jokowi-JK pair had won an average 52 percent of the votes, while the Prabowo-Hatta duo had secured about 47 percent.          Meanwhile, other survey institutions, such as the LSN, IRC, Puskaptis, and JSI, gave a victory of average 51 percent to the Prabowo-Hatta pair and average 49 percent to the Jokowi-JK pair.

INDONESIAN PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION RUNS PEACEFULLY

by Andi Abdussalam
Jakarta, July 9 (Antara) - The presidential election held across the country on Wednesday was peaceful and without any major hindrances.          National Police Chief General Sutarman reported to Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs Djoko Suyanto that in general the polling process in all the regions of Indonesia was implemented in a smooth, peaceful and orderly manner.          The National Police chief said his rank and file had conducted monitoring and maintained security at 486,866 polling stations across the country. "Security officers had been deployed at polling stations to maintain law and order. We had also conducted patrols with adequate number of personnel. On the whole, there was no problem, particularly in Jakarta," the National Police chief said.          On the occasion, a teleconference was also held to brief the minister about the security conditions in the regions by regional police chiefs. "Today, the chief political, legal and security minister is with us to listen to information from various police forces in the region (Regional Police and Resort Police) on the implementation of the 2014 presidential elections," Gen. Sutarman said.